0 


MASTERPIECES 
OF     PAINTING 

THEIR  QUALITIES   AND   MEANINGS 
AN  INTRODUCTORY  STUDY 

By 

LOUISE  ROGERS  JEWETT 

Professor  of  Art  in  Mount  Holyoke  College 


BOSTON:    RICHARD   G.    BADGER 
Toronto:     The  Copp  Clark  Co.,  Limited 


Copyright  191 5,  by  Richard  G.  Badger 
All  rights  reserved 


A 


The  Gorham  Press,  Boston,  U.  S.  A. 


PREFACE 

SINCE  the  larger  things  Miss  Jewett  purposed 
will  not  now  come  to  fruition,  a  word  may  be 
said  of  a  life  and  work  for  which  this  book  can  be 
but  partial  evidence.  Desire  and  marked  ability- 
led  her  early  to  determine  on  the  professional 
study  and  practice  of  art.  In  1886  she  began  the 
arduous  training  of  an  art  student  in  Paris,  where 
she  studied  under  the  two  great  masters,  Benjamin 
Constant  and  Jules  Lefebvre.  In  1888  her  first 
Salon  picture  was  accepted;  it  was  a  portrait,  and 
as  such  indicative  of  the  interest  that  dominated 
the  larger  part  of  her  later  creative  work.  For 
several  years  she  was  more  or  less  continuously 
abroad,  gleaning  richly  from  the  art  of  the  various 
European  countries  in  which  she  found  herself. 
The  serious  historical  study  of  her  subject,  long 
since  begun,  became  of  increasing  importance  to 
the  young  artist.  In  1892  she  made  her  first 
pilgrimage  to  Italy,  and  henceforth  her  love  for 
its  art,  its  literature,  its  people,  for  the  lovely 
land  itself,  was  an  abiding  and  ever  deepening 
influence  in  her  life.  She  returned  to  Italy  again 
and  again,  and  she  brought  from  it  always  an 
ardent  gospel  of  beauty  and  delight. 

Never    entirely    relinquishing  the   practice  of 
painting    which   she   so   whole-heartedly    loved 
Miss    Jewett    was    gradually    led    to    exchange 
3 


339490 


4  PREFACE 

the  career  of  an  artist  for  that  of  a  teacher. 
After  a  few  years  experience  in  eastern  schools 
in  this  country,  she  came  in  1901  to  Mount 
Holyoke  College  as  Professor  of  Art,  a  position 
which  she  held  with  increasing  distinction  until 
her  death.  To  her  expert  knowledge  of  the 
craftsmanship  that  underlies  great  art,  she  joined 
a  thorough  scholarship,  and  an  enthusiasm  that 
never  became  uncritical. 

Miss  Jewett's  desire  in  preparing  this  book  is 
shown  in  her  own  statement:  "If  any  lover  of 
beauty  who  has  stood  perplexed  in  the  presence 
of  great  pictures,  and  has  felt  more  or  less  debarred 
from  sharing  the  critic's  point  of  view,  finds  here 
suggestions  which  stimulate  the  sense  of  true 
appreciation  and  deepen  the  sense  of  enjoyment, 
this  little  book  will  have  served  its  modest  pur- 
pose. "  The  hope  here  expressed  has  been  more 
than  fulfilled. 

To  those  who  knew  her,  the  "Masterpieces  of 
Painting"  will  constantly  bring  to  mind  the  in- 
imitable clarity  and  inspiration  of  her  teaching,  as 
well  as  the  warmly  human  personality  that  lay 
behind  it. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  I.     Introduction 1 1 

Workmanship. 

Chapter  II.     Mural  Decoration  in  Fres- 
co   17 

Chapter  III.     Painting  in  Tempera 34 

Chapter  IV.     Painting  in  Oil 42 

Enthusiasms. 

Chapter  V.     Ideals  of  the  Trecento .  ...  53 
Chapter  VI.     Enthusiasms  of  the  Quat- 
trocento    67 

Chapter  VII.     The  Golden  Age 84 

Chapter  VIII.     The    Homely    Art    of 

Holland 99 

Chapter  IX.     The  Royal  Art  of  Spain .  113 

Outlines  and  Notes. 

I.  Historical  Outlines 125 

II.  Notes  on  the  Painters 127 

Reading  List 144 

Outline  for  Club  Paper 155 

Pronouncing  List 157 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

1.  Giotto,    "Return   of  Joachim   to    the 

Sheepfold,"  Arena  Chapel,  Padua.  . 

Frontispiece 

Facing  Page 

2.  Benozzo  Gozzoli,  Detail  from  "Adora- 

tion," Chapel  of  Medici  Palace,  Flor- 
ence         28 

3.  Signorelli,     "Angels    Welcoming    the 

Blessed,"  San  Brizio  Chapel,  Cathe- 
dral of  Orvieto 29 

4.  Fra    Filippo    Lippi,    "Annunciation," 

National  Gallery,  London 38 

5.  Carlo  Crivelli,  "Madonna  and  Saints," 

National  Gallery,  London 39 

6.  Hugo  van  der  Goes,  "Adoration  of  the 

Shepherds,"  Uffizi  Gallery,  Florence, 
Central  Panel  of  the  Portinari  Altar- 
piece 42 

7.  Giorgione,  "Shepherd  Boy,"  Hampton 

Court 43 

8.  Simone  Martini,  "The  Dream  of  St. 

Martin,"  Chapel  of  St.  Martin,  Low- 
er Church  of  St.  Francis,  Assisi 62 

9.  Perugino,  "Annunciation,"  Church  of 

Santa  Maria  Nuova,  Fano 63 


io.  Andrea  Mantegna,  "Christ  in  the 
Mount  of  Olives,"  National  Gallery, 
London 72 

1 1 .  Giovanni  Bellini,  "  Christ  on  the  Mount 

of  Olives, "  National  Gallery,  London      73 

12.  Masaccio,    "Expulsion   of  Adam   and 

Eve,"  Brancacci  Chapel,  Church  of 

the  Carmine,  Florence 80 

13.  Botticelli,    "Madonna    and      Child," 

Poldi-Pezzoli  Collection,  Milan 81 

14.  Michelangelo,   "Creation    of    Adam," 

Sistine  Chapel,  Vatican,  Rome 9c 

15.  Titian,  "The  Entombment  of  Christ," 

Louvre,  Paris 91 

16.  Andrea  del  Sarto,  "Pieta,"  Pitti  Gal- 

lery, Florence 100 

17.  Nicholas     Maes,     "Le     Benedicite," 

Louvre,  Paris 101 

18.  Rembrandt,  "  The  Philosopher  in  Medi- 

tation, "  Louvre,  Paris 116 

19.  Velasquez,  "Don  Balthazar  Carlos  in 

Hunting  Dress,"  Prado,  Madrid 117 


MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 


MASTERPIECES 
OF    PAINTING 

CHAPTER  I 

Introduction 

THE  plan  of  study  here  suggested  lays  em- 
phasis on  certain  characteristics  of  paintings 
often  disregarded  even  by  those  who  are  somewhat 
familiar  with  works  of  art.  In  the  "Reading 
List,"  references  are  given  to  books  relating  to 
each  one  of  the  artists  whose  work  is  considered 
in  the  text,  to  his  age  and  environment,  and  to 
cri  tical  discussions  of  his  style.  The  narrow  limits 
of  this  book  make  it  impossible  to  do  more  than 
point  the  way  to  fields  of  information  rich  and 
vast.  The  emphasis  has  here  been  placed  rather 
on  those  qualities  to  be  found  in  the  work  itself, 
to  the  evidences  which  it  gives,  in  confirmation 
of  what  has  been  told  by  writers,  about  the 
painter's  studies,  his  methods  of  execution,  and 
those  enthusiasms  of  his  own  which  most  clearly 
reveal  his  personality.  In  his  works  one  sees  the 
results  of  his  training,  the  difficulties  with  which 
he  delighted  to  struggle,  the  aims  by  which  he 
was  inspired,  and  the  ideals  of  beauty  which  he 
has  given  to  the  world  as  his  own. 

It  is  earnestly  hoped  that  the   suggestions  of 
a  practical  sort  given  here  and  there  may  not  be 
II 


1 1      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

disregarded.  They  concern  experiments  which 
any  observing  person  can  make  by  simply  looking 
at  the  world  about  him.  The  appreciation  of 
the  beauty  of  painting  is  surely  deepened  when 
one  finds  in  nature  those  appearances  which  the 
painter  has  noticed,  remembered,  and  recorded. 
It  is  a  poet  who  has  put  into  the  mouth  of 
a  painter  these  words: 

"For,  don't  you  mark?  we're  made  so  that  we 

love 
First  when  we  see  them  painted,  things   we 

have  passed 
Perhaps  a  hundred  times  nor  cared  to  see; 
And  so  they  are  better,  painted — better  to  us, 
Which  is  the  same  thing.     Art  was  given  for 

that; 
God  uses  us  to  help  each  other  so, 
Lending  our  minds  out.  "* 

Is  it  not  a  first  step  toward  a  true  understanding 
of  the  painter  to  be  willing  to  borrow  what  he  has 
to  lend  ? 

Experience  has  shown  that  those  who  are  not 
professional  artists  or  art  students  may  learn  by 
experiments  of  this  sort  to  understand  better 
both  the  painters  themselves  and  the  "look  of 
things"  in  nature  which  is  their  constant  study. 
Even  pictures  which  put  before  our  eyes  regions 
most  remote  from  every-day  reality,  visions  of 
the  painter's  mind,  reveal  their  beauty  more 
intimately  if  we  see  the  touch  of  nature  which 

*Browning,  "Fra  Lippo  Lippi." 


INTRODUCTION  13 

stimulated  the  imagination  of  their  author.  For 
the  painter  must  turn  his  vision  into  substance,  it 
must  take  material  shape  and  clear  definition 
under  his  brush.  He  must  catch  and  enchain 
the  "eternal  fugitive."  Following  his  eyes  as  he 
looks  about  the  world  we  come  nearer  to  the 
sources  of  his  inspiration.  It  is  a  painter  who  has 
said  of  painters:  "And,  in  fact,  most  of  that  nature 
seen  by  their  eyes  would  not  have  been  seen  by 
you  had  it  not  been  for  them.  Each  of  the 
greater  ones,  each  of  the  greater  schools,  has 
chosen  some  part  of  the  world  of  sight  to  insist 
upon  and  to  delight  in."*  The  painter  calls 
upon  us  to  share  his  delight  and  to  rejoice  in  the 
beauty  which  he  has  discovered  for  us. 

Having  learned  his  art  in  accordance  with  the 
fashions  and  methods  of  his  day,  a  painter  sets  to 
work  with  brushes  and  colours  on  a  blank  surface. 
Whatever  that  surface  may  be,  whatever  medium 
may  be  used,  the  problems  which  confront  the 
painter  are  much  the  same  from  age  to  age.  The 
inspiration  with  which  he  is  filled  cannot  be  ex- 
pressed in  words.  He  has  his  colours  ready,  his 
brushes  in  his  hand,  and  it  rests  with  him  so  to 
place  the  colours  on  the  blank  surface  before  him 
that  it  may  give  back  an  answer  to  the  thought  in 
his  mind  and  may  make  its  beauty  and  meaning 
visible.  Visible  beauty  which  can  be  expressed 
in  strokes  of  colour  must  be  beauty  of  form,  of 
light,  and  of  colour.  The  blind  man  may  be 
a  musician  or  a  poet,  he  may  learn  to  enjoy 
sculpture.  Ribera  has  an  interesting  and  touching 
painting  of  a  sightless  old  man  passing  his  fingers 
*La  Farge,  "Considerations  on  Painting,"  p.  43. 


14      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

over  the  sculptured  head  of  Apollo.  But  to  paint 
or  to  appreciate  painting  one  must  see.  Though 
presumably  things  have  looked  much  the  same  to 
human  eyes  since  the  world  began  for  them,  yet 
the  painted  record  of  that  which  has  been  seen  and 
has  been  thought  beautiful  varies  from  age  to 
age  and  from  country  to  country.  And  because 
the  painter  belongs  to  his  own  time  and  shares  its 
ideals  and  aspirations  his  work  is  an  irrefutable 
record  of  its  thought.  What  he  was  commissioned 
to  do  was  regarded  as  worthy  and  precious  by 
others  besides  himself.  The  illustrations  in  this 
book  furnish  examples  of  a  few  successive  changes 
of  enthusiasm  and  of  vision.  They  represent 
some  of  the  many  aspects  of  nature  which  have 
inspired  painters  and  show  how  "each  has  chosen 
some  part  of  the  world  of  sight  to  insist  upon  and 
to  delight  in. " 


WORKMANSHIP 

"In  every  great  artist  there  is  a  humble  work- 
man who  knows  his  trade  and  likes  it. " 

La  Farge,  "Considerations  on  Painting. " 


CHAPTER  II 

Mural  Decoration  in  Fresco 

NO  one  quite  appreciates  a  painting,  however 
much  he  may  admire  the  forms  and  the 
sentiment  of  it,  who  takes  no  account  of  the 
pleasure  which  the  artist  found  in  it  as  a  piece 
of  work.  Evidences  of  the  liking  which  he  as  a 
workman  had  for  his  trade  may  be  readily  per- 
ceived in  his  work  without  any  real  knowledge  of 
technical  processes. 

For  several  centuries  it  was  the  fashion  in  Italy 
to  cover  the  entire  wall  surface  in  every  important 
building,  town  hall  or  church  or  palace,  with 
painted  decorations.  To  accomplish  great  under- 
takings of  this  sort  many  painters,  masters, 
journeymen,  and  'prentices  worked  together, 
often  in  close  association  with  the  architects  and 
sculptors;  painting  was  distinctly  a  trade.  Far 
from  regarding  this  as  a  degradation  to  his 
calling,  the  young  artist  found  in  it  a  mighty 
business,  to  be  thoroughly  learned  during  a  long 
apprenticeship.  It  was  worth  the  devotion  of 
many  years  to  become  a  master  among  masters. 
Any  painter  who  could  practice  his  calling  with 
distinction  was  sure  of  important  and  inspiring 
commissions,  and  the  'prentice  still  in  the  work- 
shop felt  in  touch  with  great  things  and  able  to 
17 


1 8      MASTERPIECES  OF   PAINTING 

form  an  opinion  about  them.  And  whenever 
he  looked  at  a  bit  of  bare  new  wall  in  church  or 
chapel  he  doubtless  longed  for  a  chance  to  try 
his  hand  upon  it. 

One  of  the  results  of  the  long  apprenticeship, 
which  often  began  in  childhood,  was  the  deep  and 
enduring  influence  of  the  master  on  the  disciple. 
Traditions  in  regard  to  the  best  manner  of  execut- 
ing each  part  of  the  work  were  handed  down 
from  one  generation  to  another.  An  interesting 
illustration  of  the  long  and  intimate  association 
customary  between  master  and  pupil  is  found  in 
the  "Book  of  Art"  written  by  a  painter  named 
Cennino  Cennini,  probably  at  the  very  beginning 
of  the  fifteenth  century.  He  wrote  his  book  for 
the  guidance  of  painters,  and  in  order  to  point  out 
on  what  authority  he  speaks  he  thus  enforces  some 
of  his  advice:  "But  do  you  follow  the  method  of 
colouring  which  I  shall  point  out  to  you,  because 
Giotto  the  great  master  followed  it.  He  had 
Taddeo  the  Florentine  for  his  disciple  for  four  and 
twenty  years,  who  was  his  godson.  Taddeo  had 
Agnolo,  his  son;  Agnolo  had  me  for  twelve  years, 
whereby  I  gained  this  method  of  colouring."* 
This  passage  indicates  the  respect  of  painters  for 
the  work  of  Giotto  and  the  affectionate  regard  for 
him  which  had  lasted  for  four  generations,  since 
those  far-off  days  when  Gaddo  Gaddi,  a  painter 
of  Florence,  was  honored  by  having  the  great 
master  for  godfather  to  his  little  son  Taddeo. 

In  these  early  days  the  painters  were  obliged 
to  make  all  the  tools  of  their  trade,  and  Cennino 

*C.  J.  Herringham,  "The  Book  of  the  Art  of  Cennino 
Cennini, "  p.  60.     (c.  67.) 


MURAL  DECORATION  IN  FRESCO     19 

in  his  book  tells  them  just  how  to  do  it.  His 
directions  show  the  importance  attached  to  the 
materials  used  in  painting,  to  their  choice,  prepara- 
tion, and  proper  use.  He  gives  also  an  authentic 
view  of  the  painter's  calling  in  early  days  and  of 
his  course  of  study.  Mrs.  Herringham,  the  editor 
of  the  English  edition  of  Cennino's  book,  says 
concerning  its  author: 

"It  is  worth  while  taking  a  little  trouble  to 
understand  the  traditional  and  personal  instruc- 
tion received  by  even  a  'humble  member'  (C.  1)  of 
the  great  traditional  school.  Besides  definite 
instruction  we  get  from  Cennino  just  a  glimpse 
into  the  moral  and  aesthetic  sympathies  of  these 
painters.  We  stand  by  the  side  of  one  of  them, 
and  as  he  works  and  handles  his  materials  we 
appreciate  better  what  he  aims  at  doing  with 
them,  and  how  they  form  an  intrinsic  part  of  the 
soul  of  the  picture — not  only  of  its  body."* 

The  necessity  for  the  long  apprenticeship  is 
made  very  clear  in  the  chapter  in  which  Cennino 
lays  down  the  course  of  study  for  the  young  artist. 
"  Know  that  you  cannot  learn  to  paint  in  less  time 
than  thus.  In  the  first  place,  you  must  study 
drawing  for  at  least  one  year,  on  tablets;  then  you 
must  remain  with  a  master  at  the  workshop,  who 
understands  working  in  all  parts  of  the  art;  you 
must  begin  with  grinding  colours  and  learn  to 
boil  down  glues,  to  acquire  the  practice  of  laying 
grounds  on  panels,  to  work  in  relief  upon  them, 
and  to  rub  them  smooth  and  to  gild;  to  engrave 
well;  and  this  for  six  years;  afterwards  to  practice 
colouring,  to  adorn  with  mordants,  to  make 
*Op.  cit.  x. 


20      MASTERPIECES   OF   PAINTING 

cloths  of  gold,  and  to  be  accustomed  to  paint  on 
walls,  for  six  years  more, — always  drawing  without 
intermission  either  on  holidays  or  workdays.  And 
so,  through  long  habit,  good  practice  becomes  a 
second  nature.  Adopting  other  habits,  do  not 
hope  ever  to  attain  great  perfection.  There  are 
many  who  say  that  they  have  learned  the  art 
without  having  been  with  a  master.  Do  not 
believe  them,  for  I  give  you  this  very  book  as 
example:  even  studying  it  day  and  night,  if  you 
do  not  see  some  practice  with  some  master,  you 
will  never  be  fit  for  anything,  nor  will  you  be  able 
with  a  good  face  to  stay  among  the  masters."* 
Giotto's  great  works  in  Assisi,  Padua,  and 
Florence  are  painted  in  fresco,  and  it  is  because 
Cennino  had  learned  Giotto's  way,  as  he  often 
mentions  with  pride,  and  not  because  he  ever 
himself  did  anything  great  in  it,  that  his  account 
of  the  process  is  of  value;  it  is  the  craftsman  who 
speaks,  but  he  makes  us  understand  how  the  great 
artist  also  knew  his  trade.  Cennino  tells  how  to 
prepare  walls  to  receive  decorations  in  fresco, 
decorations,  that  is,  painted  on  fresh  plaster.  He 
tells  how  the  design  is  first  spaced  out  and  the 
shadows  suggested  on  the  first  or  underlying  coat 
of  fine  plaster  (intonaco),  and  how  upon  that 
the  second  intonaco  is  spread,  very  thin  and 
smooth,  when  the  painting  is  to  be  begun.  "Then 
consider,"  he  says,  "how  much  you  can  paint  in  a 
day;  .  .  .  because  when  painting  in  fresco 
that  which  is  finished  in  one  day  is  the  firmest 
and  best,  and  is  the  most  beautiful  work. "' 

*Op.  cit.  p.  87.     (c.  104.)  fOp.  cit.  p.  57.     (c.  6y.) 


MURAL  DECORATION  IN  FRESCO    21 

The  colours  were  in  the  form  of  powder,  ground 
exceedingly  fine,  and  were  mixed  with  water  for 
spreading.  The  painting  dried  with  the  plaster 
and  became  a  part  of  it,  having  a  smooth  hard 
finish  and  a  slight  lustre.  When  the  plaster  was 
entirely  dry,  retouching  could  be  done  with  colours 
mixed  with  some  kind  of  glue  or  size  to  make  them 
adhere.  This  is  called  "fresco  a  secco"  in  dis- 
tinction from  "buon  fresco,"  that  is,  "true 
fresco. " 

Six  examples  of  fresco  painting  are  given  in  this 
book:  plates  1,  2,  3,  8,  12,  14.  Over  two  hundred 
years  elapsed  between  the  completion  of  Giotto's 
fresco,  the  earliest  of  these,  and  Michelangelo's, 
the  latest;  but  they  have  certain  traits  in  com- 
mon, due  to  the  method  of  painting,  and  distin- 
guishing them  from  works  in  other  mediums. 
Each  one  of  them  is  but  a  detail  from  a  great 
decorative  composition  covering  nearly  the  whole 
wall  surface  of  the  chapel  in  which  it  is  painted. 
If  a  work  of  this  sort  failed  to  take  its  place  as 
a  part  of  the  scheme  of  decoration  it  would  in 
a  measure  violate  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
made.  The  master  who  planned  the  design  need- 
ed to  have  in  mind  the  relation  of  each  detail  to 
the  whole,  he  must  see  the  end  from  the  beginning. 
He  was  obliged  to  consider  his  entire  plan,  to 
measure  and  divide  the  wall  spaces,  to  choose  the 
various  subjects  and  to  arrange  their  distribution, 
before  the  work  could  be  carried  far.  There  were 
several  ways  of  transferring  the  design  to  the  wall, 
but  in  whatever  way  this  was  done  the  new  work 
must  match  the  old,  and  the  artist  in  painting  that 
bit  of  wet  plaster  which  he  could  do  in  one  day 


22      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

was  not  free  to  indulge  in  momentary  inspirations 
which  would  in  any  way  injure  the  general  plan. 
Work  in  fresco  has  thus  a  deliberate  character 
in  distinction  from  the  spontaneity  possible  in 
pictures  painted  in  oil  on  canvas,  where  the  artist 
may  change  his  intention  with  every  brush  stroke. 
When  a  large  number  of  assistants  were  employed 
upon  the  minor  details  the  work  was  still  less 
impulsive.  To  compare,  for  example,  the  great 
frescoes  of  Raphael  and  of  Michelangelo  in  the 
Vatican,  the  designs  of  Raphael  are  well-ordered 
and  serene;  the  grandly  simple  pattern  of  the 
composition  and  the  beautiful  relation  of  each 
part,  each  figure,  to  the  whole  are  above  praise, 
but  there  is  not  that  consciousness  of  excitement, 
of  fiery  zeal,  which  is  felt  in  contemplating  the 
Sistine  vaulting,  where  a  great  and  lonely  soul  has 
left  his  thought  upon  the  crackling  plaster.  It 
required  gifted  and  well-trained  painters  to  help 
Raphael,  but  no  one  could  be  of  any  real  service 
to  Michelangelo. 

In  an  interior  the  form  of  the  wall  spaces  is 
determined  by  the  architecture.  One  of  the  most 
important  concerns  of  the  mural  painter  was  to 
adapt  his  designs  to  the  shape  of  these  spaces 
and  to  the  manner  in  which  they  were  lighted. 
In  these  problems  he  found  unlimited  scope  for 
ingenuity.  The  fresco  had  an  architectural 
quality  and  became  in  fact  as  much  a  part  of  the 
building  as  the  wall  to  which  it  was  applied.  Thus 
any  detail  like  those  here  illustrated  is  in  a  sense 
but  a  part  of  an  ornamental  pattern.  For  de- 
scriptions of  the  decorated  interiors  in  which  they 


MURAL  DECORATION  IN  FRESCO    23 

occur  the  student  is  referred  to  the  "Reading 
List." 

These  great  frescoes  are  of  world-wide  fame, 
and  because  of  the  great  outlay  of  money,  time, 
and  genius  which  they  represent  they  signify  the 
enthusiasm  of  patron  and  artist  in  the  days  when 
they  were  done.  Much  may  be  learned  of  the 
changes  in  fashion,  in  thought,  and  in  the  methods 
of  painting  during  two  hundred  years  by  observing 
and  comparing  the  works  of  these  painters,  and 
noting  the  devices  used  by  them  in  adapting  the 
pictorial  design,  with  its  message  from  Christian 
history  or  Christian  doctrine,  to  its  other  purpose 
as  a  bit  of  decoration. 

The  Chapel  of  the  Arena  at  Padua  is  wide  and 
lofty,  with  a  vaulted  roof  and  no  aisles.  When 
Giotto  first  entered  it,  the  vast  interior  must  have 
looked  exceedingly  cold  and  bare.  The  painter 
has  made  it  a  glorious,  glowing  thing.  He  had 
great  visions  to  express,  the  triumph  of  Christian- 
ity, the  terrors  of  the  Last  Day,  and  all  the  story 
of  the  earthly  life  of  Christ  and  of  his  Blessed 
Mother.  The  decoration  begins  upon  the  great 
shadowed  depths  of  the  vaulting,  where  are  circu- 
lar medallions  set  on  a  background  of  dark  blue 
spangled  with  gold  stars.  On  the  face  of  the  great 
arch  above  the  entrance  to  the  apse,  the  most 
conspicuous  and  sacred  of  all  the  wall  surfaces 
and  the  center  of  the  scheme  of  decoration,  Christ 
is  represented  enthroned  in  glory.  This  design 
is  arranged  to  fit  the  arch-shape  of  the  wall  and  a 
symmetrical  pattern  is  formed  by  the  groups  of 
angels  on  each  side  ascending  toward  the  throne 
on  which  Christ  is  seated  above  the  crown  of  the 


24      MASTERPIECES  OF   PAINTING 

great  arch.  Giotto  divided  the  side  walls  by 
vertical  and  horizontal  bands  of  ornament,  thus 
forming  rectangular  panels  in  each  one  of  which 
some  incident  of  the  story  he  wished  to  tell  could 
be  illustrated.  There  are  in  all  thirty-eight  of 
these  scenes;  plate  I  illustrates  one  of  them.  In 
most  of  them  there  is,  as  in  this  one,  an  expanse  of 
blue  sky  across  the  upper  part  of  the  panel,  and 
in  the  lower  part  are  figures  grouped  in  the  fore- 
ground forming  a  bright  mass  by  their  costumes — 
cheerful  and  even  gay  in  colour.  About  the  head 
of  every  saint  is  a  great  disc-like  halo,  raised  in 
plaster,  gilded,  and  burnished.  The  ornamental 
parts  of  the  design  are  also  enriched  with  gold. 
In  addition,  then,  to  his  wonderful  skill  in  pictorial 
composition,  displayed  in  the  long  series  of  pic- 
tures this  work  of  Giotto  shows  that  he  understood 
his  duty  as  a  decorator  and  never  lost  sight  of  this 
aspect  of  his  work.  "The  first  sensation  of  the 
spectator  in  the  presence  of  this  monumental 
work  is  one  of  wonder  and  surprise  at  the  perfect 
manner  in  which  the  original  decorative  scheme 
has  been  carried  out.  Nor  is  his  admiration 
unjustified,  for  it  would  be  difficult  to  cite  or  even 
to  imagine  any  example  of  a  decorated  interior 
more  perfectly  in  keeping  with  the  architectural 
character  of  the  building  than  in  this  case."* 

It  is  easy  to  imagine,  and  also  permissible,  that 
when  at  last  the  staging  was  removed  from  the 
interior  of  the  Arena  Chapel  and  Giotto  had  a 
chance  to  survey  his  completed  work,  he  felt 
an  honest  thrill  of  pride  and  satisfaction.  Though 
probably  he  never  dreamed  of  bequeathing  to  his 
*Perkins,  Giotto,  p.  91. 


MURAL  DECORATION  IN  FRESCO    25 

artistic  successors  of  the  third  and  fourth  genera- 
tion any  formula  which  they  would  cherish  as  a 
sacred  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  yet  he  doubtless 
esteemed  himself  a  good  and  clever  workman, 
worthy  to  be  considered  "  as  being,  on  the  whole, " 
as  Ruskin  puts  it,  "an  authority  on  walls."*  He 
saw  his  work  in  all  its  freshness  and  bright  beauty, 
now  partly  vanished  under  the  touch  of  time  and 
of  the  restorer,  and  as  his  eye  swept  from  scene  to 
scene  he  may  well  have  felt  how  truly  and  honestly 
each  had  been  done,  and  many  of  his  figures  may 
have  given  him  the  same  happy  confidence  in  his 
own  creations  which  was  Donatello's,  of  whom 
Vasari  tells  us  that  his  favorite  oath  was:  "By 
the  faith  I  have  in  my  Zuccone. "  As  an  artist 
works  he  gets  an  answer  from  the  work  itself,  and 
his  heart  rejoices  when  that  answer  rings  true, 
when  in  response  to  his  brush  a  vision  of  his  own 
soul  becomes  a  beautiful  reality  for  himself  and 
for  all  the  world. 

Simone  Martini's  picture,  plate  8,  belongs  to  a 
series  of  frescoes  painted  about  thirty  years  after 
Giotto's  work  in  Padua.  The  little  side  chapel 
in  which  it  is  found  opens  from  the  nave  of  the 
lower  church  of  St.  Francis  at  Assisi,  and  is  dedi- 
cated to  St.  Martin.  The  story  of  the  life  of  the 
saint  is  told  in  a  succession  of  scenes  along  the 
sides  of  the  chapel,  and  the  decoration  is  continued 
on  the  panels  formed  by  the  thick  walls  through 
which  the  entrance  is  cut.  On  these  there  are 
painted  figures  of  tall  slender  saints  standing  in 
narrow  Gothic  niches.  The  chapel  is  small  and 
the  pictures  are  nearer  the  observer  than  in  the 
*Ruskin,  Giotto  and  his  Works  in  Padua,  p.  30. 


26      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

great  chapel  of  Padua,  and  therefore  more  details 
were  appropriate,  but  had  it  been  otherwise 
Simone  would  perhaps  have  introduced  them  just 
the  same,  for  he  loved  rich  costumes  and  bright, 
delicate  colours,  as  one  sees  in  his  other  works. 
The  decorative  effect  of  raised  and  gilded  halos 
is  illustrated  by  the  group  of  angels'  heads  in  this 
picture.  All  are  fair-haired  and  pink-cheeked 
as  was  the  style  in  the  art  of  Siena,  and  a  dainty 
flower-like  aspect  is  given  by  their  yellow  heads 
against  the  gold.  The  saints  in  the  niches  are 
swathed  in  robes  of  tender  tints  of  green  and 
pink  and  lilac  and  orange.  St.  Catherine,  for 
instance,  wears  a  clinging  robe  of  rose  and  amber, 
with  facings  and  sleeves  of  green.  Her  blonde 
hair  is  set  against  a  great  gold  halo,  and  all  the 
background  left  between  its  circle  and  the  curves 
of  the  cusped  arch  at  the  top  of  her  niche  is  a 
deep,  pure  blue.  In  colour  and  in  drawing  as  well 
as  in  feeling  Simone's  work  has  more  subtilty  and 
less  force  than  Giotto's.  This  little  chapel,  before 
time  had  dealt  so  hardly  by  it,  must  have  had  an 
exquisite  and  glowing  beauty,  and  now  in  its 
faded  splendor  it  is  still  a  fine  example  of  decora- 
tive design  combined  with  iconography  or  picture 
story-telling. 

In  the  days  of  Giotto  and  Simone,  it  was  the 
fashion  to  divide  large  expanses  of  unbroken  wall 
by  ornamental  borders  of  some  kind,  and  these 
borders  were  also  continued  upon  the  ribs  of  the 
vaulting  and  the  wide  margins  about  the  deep-set 
windows.  The  followers  of  these  painters  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century  sometimes 
used   other   ingenious    methods  for   distributing 


MURAL  DECORATION  IN  FRESCO    27 

along  the  walls  the  various  scenes  required  for 
story-telling.  Occasionally  no  formal  division  of 
the  wall  was  made,  but  one  scene  was  separated 
from  another  by  a  natural  object,  a  cliff,  a  path, 
a  gateway,  a  door,  or  some  similar  device.  In 
designs  of  this  kind  the  eye  is  led  on  from  one 
part  to  another,  past  the  cliff,  along  the  path,  or 
through  the  gate  or  door,  until  it  has  traced  the 
story  over  the  entire  expanse  of  wall.  This 
wandering  composition,  as  it  may  be  called,  is  of 
course  less  powerful  in  its  impression  than  an 
arrangement  which  is  more  unified  and  which  has 
a  distinct  center  of  interest.  But  the  wandering 
system  has  a  certain  definite  charm.  It  is  inviting. 
It  draws  the  attention  from  one  bit  to  another, 
and  is  therefore  well  suited  to  small  chapels  in 
which  the  observer  can  never  stand  at  a  great 
enough  distance  to  see  the  whole  wall  at  a  glance. 
A  fifteenth  century  modification  of  this  kind 
of  decorative  composition  is  shown  in  plate  2, 
a  detail  from  the  Chapel  of  the  Medici  (now 
Riccardi)  Palace  in  Florence,  painted  by  Benozzo 
Gozzoli,  a  pupil  of  Fra  Angelico.  Here  the 
subject  is  the  journey  of  the  Magi,  and  the  artist 
has  arranged  a  procession,  the  three  kings  with 
their  courtiers  and  servants  marching  along  three 
walls  of  the  dark  little  chapel,  which  in  his  time 
had  no  window.  In  a  small  apse  on  the  fourth 
side  was  an  altarpiece,  by  Fra  Filippo  Lippi,  of 
the  new-born  Christ  adored  by  his  mother.  On 
the  side  walls  of  the  apse,  Benozzo  represented 
hosts  of  adoring  angels,  and  on  the  narrow  walls 
which  unite  the  apse  to  the  rest  of  the  tiny  chapel, 
he  placed  the  shepherds  in  the  fields.     The  prin- 


28       MASTERPIECES   OF   PAINTING 

cipal  figures  thus  form  a  continuous  line  around 
the  entire  room.  Behind  them  lies  the  open 
country.  The  climbing  roads  wind  among  gar- 
dens, bare  slopes  and  woodland,  and  draw  the 
eye  back  into  distant  regions,  making  the  chapel 
seem  to  reach  out  on  every  side  and  to  lose  its 
small  dimensions.  So  varied  and  inviting  are 
both  foreground  and  background,  so  rich  and 
splendid  all  the  details,  that  one  may  linger  long 
and  never  discover  all  the  charms  and  embellish- 
ments. One  must  bring  the  imagination  back  to 
the  bare  walls  which  the  artist  had  before  him 
in  order  fully  to  realize  what  he  has  succeeded  in 
creating  out  of  his  colours.  There  have  been 
greater  souls  than  Benozzo,  but  he  was  a  good 
painter  and  he  knew  his  trade  well. 

Plate  12,  on  the  contrary,  shows  the  work  of  a 
painter  so  absorbed  in  greater  thoughts  that  one 
forgets,  and  almost  feels  that  he  forgot,  that  his 
work  was  intended  to  beautify  the  dark  chapel  in 
which  he  painted.  This  design,  "The  Expulsion 
of  Adam  and  Eve, "  is  one  of  the  frescoes  of  Masac- 
cio  in  the  Brancacci  Chapel  of  the  Carmine  Church 
in  Florence.  It  is  painted  upon  one  of  the  panels 
made  by  the  entrance  wall  and  is  composed  to  fit 
this  narrow  space  and  to  match  the  " Temptation" 
by  Masolino  which  occupies  a  corresponding 
position  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  entrance. 
The  whole  scheme  of  decoration  in  this  chapel  as 
planned  and  partly  carried  out  by  Masolino  and 
Masaccio  and  completed  years  later  by  Filippino 
displays,  indeed,  a  well-ordered  distribution  of 
subjects,  a  unity  in  composition  and  in  style,  a 
dignity  and  fitness  between  the  different  designs, 


zz 


MURAL  DECORATION  IN  FRESCO    29 

kept  faithfully  by  Filippino  in  finishing  what  had 
been  begun  by  men  of  wholly  different  tempera- 
ment from  his  own.  But  the  work  of  Masaccio 
is  so  much  more  than  a  contribution  to  a  decora- 
tive scheme  that  this  aspect  of  his  work  almost 
disappears.  His  conviction  of  the  great  untried 
possibilities  of  his  art,  his  excitement,  his  daring, 
his  power  both  in  the  conception  of  his  subject 
and  in  the  manner  of  painting,  has  transferred 
to  his  figures  the  life,  the  vigor,  the  fire  of  the  bold 
youth  who  left  them  on  the  walls  and  who  made 
of  this  dim  chapel  not  a  place  of  worship,  nor  a 
rich  piece  of  decoration,  but  a  school  of  painting 
where  those  of  his  calling  have  found  through  all 
succeeding  years  inspiration  and  instruction. 

Another  method  of  composition  by  which  a  wall 
lofty  and  wide  is  covered  with  a  single  design  and 
not  broken  up  by  formal  subdivisions  is  shown  in 
plate  3,  "Angels  welcoming  the  Blessed,"  from 
the  frescoes  by  Signorelli  in  the  Chapel  of  San 
Brizio  in  the  Cathedral  of  Orvieto.  There  are 
four  of  these  great  wall  spaces,  two  on  each  side 
of  the  chapel,  bounded  at  the  top  by  the  lateral 
arches  supporting  the  vaulted  roof.  This  little 
illustration,  very  small  in  respect  to  the  vast 
expanse  which  it  represents,  shows  clearly  the 
patternlike  character  of  the  design.  The  crowds 
of  the  Redeemed,  just  waking  to  a  knowledge  of 
their  bliss,  fill  the  lower  part  of  the  wall,  and 
above  them  extends  a  starry  sky.  Angels  with 
instruments  of  music  are  here  seated  on  torn  bits 
of  cloud,  and  their  great  wings  fill  the  high  arch 
with  beautiful  curves.  These  two  parts  of  the 
composition  are  brought  together  by  the  angels 


3o      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

who,  hovering  between  earth  and  heaven,  stoop 
to  scatter  flowers  upon  the  saints  below  or  to 
crown  their  uplifted  brows.  Some  similar  device 
is  used  in  the  designs  for  the  other  walls.  In  the 
"Resurrection  of  the  Dead"  two  great  angels 
standing  upon  the  clouds  sound  long  trumpets 
and  spread  out  wide  wings  to  fill  the  sweep  of  sky. 
In  the  "Damned"  the  archangels  fill  the  arch  of 
the  sky,  and  between  heaven  and  earth  a  frightful 
demon  with  a  lost  soul  upon  his  back  descends 
toward  the  open  mouth  of  hell.  The  entrance 
wall  opens  into  the  church  by  a  wide  arch  and  the 
altar  wall  is  pierced  by  windows.  On  these  broken 
walls  also  Signorelli  has  fitted  the  design  to  the 
shape  of  the  wall  surface  with  great  ingenuity. 

For  the  decoration  of  the  vaulting  of  the  Sistine 
Chapel  Michelangelo  created  not.  only  the  pictorial 
subjects  but  also  the  entire  system  of  architecture 
and  of  sculptured  ornament  in  which  the  pictures 
are  set,  thus  making  use  in  fresco  of  his  ability  as 
an  architect  and  sculptor.  He  had  acquired  his 
knowledge  of  painting  in  fresco  when  as  a  mere 
lad  he  served  his  apprenticeship  to  Ghirlandajo. 
He  used  his  brush  with  the  same  sureness  of  hand 
with  which  he  struck  his  chisel,  and  left  his  work 
with  very  little  retouching.  Thus  it  has  been 
possible  to  discover  the  seams  which  mark  the 
joining  of  fresh  plaster  to  dry,  and  to  trace  the 
amount  of  work  done  in  one  day.*     It  has  been 

*From  Heath  Wilson,  "Michelangelo,"  p.  177:  "In  the 
morning  the  plasterer  presents  himself  to  the  artist  and  is 
instructed  where  to  lay  the  fine  coat  of  plaster  required. 
When  it  is  laid,  the  artist  marks  out  the  outline,  and,  his 
colours  being  ready,  he  begins  to  paint;  when  he  has  finished 


MURAL  DECORATION  IN  FRESCO    31 

estimated  from  the  examination  of  such  marks 
that  the  figure  of  Adam,  plate  14,  was  painted  in 
three  or  at  the  most  four  days.  In  large,  clear 
photographs  some  of  these  lines  are  perceptible. 
The  vaulting  frescoes  completed  a  great  scheme 
of  decoration  begun  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  Here  Perugino,  Botticelli, 
Signorelli,  and  other  masters  had  painted  large 
designs  upon  the  side  and  altar  walls,  illustrating 
by  scenes  from  Old  and  New  Testament  history, 
the  story  of  Redemption.  A  lovely  design  by 
Perugino  upon  the  altar  wall  gave  the  keynote 
of  the  theme,  and  the  frescoes  of  the  vaulting 
completed  it.  It  was  not  until  many  years  later 
that  Perugino's  work  was  hidden  under  the  "Last 
Judgment."  The  work  of  Michelangelo  begins 
with  the  lunettes  above  the  high  windows  and 
covers  the  entire  vaulting.  The  completion  of 
this  vast  piece  of  decoration  marks  an  epoch  in 
the  history  of  painting,  for  its  revelation  of  power 
made  the  city  which  held  this  marvel  the  goal  of 
every  painter's  desire. 

These  vast  decorated  interiors  were  very  costly 
in  time  and  money  and  bear  witness  to  a  taste 
which  was  shared  by  whatever  patron  ordered 
and  paid  for  the  work — pope,  prince,  private 
citizen,  or  religious  confraternity.  They  exhibit 
at  the  same  time  delight  in  rich  ornamentation 

his  day's  work,  he  takes  a  knife  and  cuts  away  all  the  plaster 
which  he  has  not  made  use  of.  Next  morning  the  plasterer 
again  appears,  and  again  receives  his  instructions,  and  joins 
the  fresh  plaster  to  that  laid  and  painted  the  day  before,  at 
one  or  more  of  the  cuts  made  by  the  artist's  knife.  Between 
the  two  expanses  of  plaster,  a  fine  line  or  joint  remains  perma- 
nently visible." 


32       MASTERPIECES   OF   PAINTING 

and  zeal  in  the  service  of  religion.  No  subject  was 
too  sacred,  no  dogma  too  profound,  no  event  too 
tragic  to  be  adapted  to  decorative  uses.  It  was 
one  manifestation  of  a  taste  common  in  Italy 
from  earliest  times.  The  Etruscan  tombs  with 
their  painted  decorations,  the  palaces  of  Rome 
and  Pompeii,  the  dark  little  chambers  of  the 
catacombs  and  the  splendid  churches  of  the 
middle  ages  where  mosaic  pictures,  rich  in  gold 
and  blue,  still  shine  upon  the  walls,  are  other 
evidences  of  the  same  feeling  and  of  the  gratifica- 
tion which  the  designer  found  in  fitting  his  decora- 
tion to  the  shape  of  the  wall.  The  lunette  above 
the  doorway,  the  great  concave  surface  in  the 
half  dome  of  the  apse,  the  triangular  compartment 
of  the  vaulting,  the  long  stretch  of  unbroken  wall 
under  the  colonnade  of  the  cloister,  each  offered 
a  different  problem,  for  in  each  the  lighting,  the 
form,  and  the  position  from  which  the  design 
would  be  seen  demanded  consideration.  The 
wish  of  Ghirlandajo  that  he  might  have  the  walls 
of  Florence  to  paint  is  but  one  illustration  of  the 
zest  which  the  artists  found  in  great  commissions. 
Even  in  the  weakest  epochs,  as,  for  instance,  in 
the  last  part  of  the  fourteenth  century,  when  the 
Giottesque  tradition  had  lost  its  first  meaning  and 
great  and  original  leaders  were  lacking,  the  paint- 
ers still  understood  this  decorative  aspect  of 
their  work.  The  walls  on  which  they  laid  their 
colours  blossom  like  old  gardens,  in  delicate  tints, 
blue,  pink,  corn-colour,  orange,  lilac,  and  watery 
green.  Each  head  of  fair-haired  saint  and  angel, 
with  round  face,  pink  cheeks,  little  mouth  and 
long  slanting  eyes,  is  set  against  a  great  golden 


MURAL  DECORATION  IN  FRESCO    33 

disc  like  a  big  corolla  and  is  supported  by  a  slender 
neck  like  the  fragile  stem  of  a  flower.  These 
figures  have  an  ethereal  beauty  which  makes 
their  heavenly  wings  and  crowns  seem  wholly  fit, 
and  they  shine  forth  from  a  setting  more  rich  in 
gold  and  ultramarine  even  than  Giotto's  own. 
The  artists  of  this  period  understood  the  nature  of 
their  commissions,  to  decorate  walls;  the  greater 
men  who  followed  them  used  similar  opportunities, 
as  we  have  seen,  to  express  the  highest  and  most 
sublime  conceptions  of  form,  of  beauty,  and  of 
significance. 

There  came,  indeed,  a  sa:d  and  solemn  day  when 
these  gay  painted  walls  were  no  longer  the  fashion, 
and  many  bright  interiors  were  whitened  like 
sepulchres  to  make  place  for  mural  altars  or  tombs 
to  which  great  marble  columns  form  the  chief 
decoration.  This  was  in  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries.  In  modern  times  the  an- 
cient faith  has  returned;  frescoes  long  hidden  and 
forgotten  have  been  brought  to  light  once  more, 
sadly  defaced,  it  is  true,  and  sometimes  more 
sadly  restored.  Some  of  the  old  precepts  still 
have  force,  and  the  sojourner  in  Italy  may  dis- 
cover in  studying  the  ceiling  of  his  room,  embel- 
lished with  festoons  of  fruit  and  flowers,  or  little 
"putti"  cheerfully  kicking  their  heels  in  the 
clouds,  that  the  humble  craftsman  who  painted 
this  ornamentation  has  indicated  the  shadows  in 
accordance  with  the  position  of  the  windows, 
thus  observing  a  rule  formulated  in  Cennino's 
book,  and  probably  handed  down  from  master  to 
'prentice  since  far  earlier  days. 


CHAPTER  III 

Painting  in  Tempera 

IN  Italy  before  the  High  Renaissance,  altar- 
pieces  and  all  small  pictures  were  usually 
painted  in  tempera.  In  this  kind  of  painting  the 
dry  colour,  a  finely  ground  powder,  is  mixed  for 
spreading  with  some  medium  or  "tempera"  which 
is  liquid  when  used,  but  in  drying  adheres  firmly 
to  the  smooth  surface  on  which  it  is  laid.  The 
tempera  most  commonly  used,  and  the  one  which 
modern  experiments  have  proved  to  be  the  most 
serviceable,  is  a  mixture  of  yolk  of  egg  and  water. 
White  of  egg  was  also  used,  and  the  juice  of  young 
fig  shoots  was  sometimes  added.  The  paint- 
ing was  done  on  a  wooden  panel  prepared  and 
smoothed  with  great  care  and  covered  with  a  thin 
layer  of  very  fine  smooth  plaster,  called  "gesso." 
Cennino  in  his  book  gives  minute  directions  for 
the  preparation  of  the  panel  and  for  all  the  elabor- 
ate processes  employed  in  a  tempera  picture. 

Tempera  and  fresco  were  sometimes  used  on 
the  same  work  because  there  were  certain  colours, 
the  blues  especially,  which  could  not  be  applied 
to  wet  plaster,  and  these  colours  were  added  to  a 
painting  in  true  fresco  after  it  was  entirely  dry. 
They  were  mixed  with  some  tempera  and  laid 
upon  a  ground  of  another  colour  which  had  been 
34 


PAINTING  IN  TEMPERA  35 

done  in  fresco.  For  instance,  a  ground  of  deep 
red  was  painted  in  fresco,  over  which  when  dry 
the  costly  blue  called  ultramarine  could  be  laid 
in  tempera.  The  great  "  Crucifixion "  of  Fra 
Angelico  in  the  Convent  of  San  Marco,  Florence, 
has  a  strange  sky  of  deep  red,  either  because  the 
ultramarine  was  never  added  or  because  it  has 
fallen.  This  colour  was  highly  esteemed  both  for 
its  beauty  and  because  of  its  costliness,  as  is 
shown  in  Cennino's  full  and  careful  instructions 
concerning  its  preparation,  beginning  with  the 
choice  of  the  lapis  lazuli  stones  of  which  it  was 
made.  "Ultramarine  blue  is  a  colour  noble, 
beautiful,  and  perfect  beyond  all  other  colours, 
and  there  is  nothing  that  could  be  said  of  it  but 
it  will  still  exceed  this  (praise).  On  account  of  its 
great  excellence  I  shall  speak  of  it  at  length,  and 
give  you  full  directions  for  preparing  it;  and  you 
must  pay  great  attention  to  them,  that  you  may 
gain  honour  and  service  from  them.  And  with 
this  colour,  together  with  gold  (which  adorns  all 
the  works  of  our  art)  let  everything  be  resplendent, 
whether  on  walls  or  panels."  After  largely 
fulfilling  his  promise  to  tell  how  to  make  it,  he 
continues:  "And  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  a  rare 
gift  to  know  how  to  make  it  well.  You  must 
know  also  that  it  is  rather  the  art  of  maidens 
than  of  men  to  make  it,  because  they  remain  con- 
tinually in  the  house  and  their  hands  are  more 
delicate.     But  beware  of  old  women.  "* 

The  panels  for  altarpieces  in  tempera  were  of 
various  shapes,  (see  figure  1),  and  were  usually 
set   in   an   architectural   frame-work  of   delicate 
*Op.  cit.  p.  47;  p.  50.  (c.  62.) 


36      MASTERPIECES  OF   PAINTING 


workmanship.     The    composition     required    in- 
genious adaptation  to  the  shape  of  the  panel  it 
was  to   cover.     A  polyptych, 
\    -_   /  for   example,    was   sometimes 

nfr^V  composed  of   a   large   central 

•^r  panel,  and  on  each  side  of  this 

!  several  high  narrow  panels  in 

J    ,  each  of  which  the  full-length 

/fee  ^  »  figure  of  a  saint  would  be 
placed.  Above  these  a  row  of 
shorter  panels  containing  half- 
length  figures,  and  across  the 
bottom  a  row  of  long  low 
panels,  called  the  "predella," 
on  which  would  be  a  design 
stretched  out  horizontally. 

The  design  thus  made  to 
conform  to  the  shape  of  the 
panel  was  drawn  upon  its 
smooth  gesso  surface  with 
extreme  care.  The  back- 
ground or  a  part  of  it  was 
generally  overlaid  with  gold 
leaf  and  burnished.  Many  of 
the  details,  as  the  throne  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  halos 
of  the  saints,  the  crowns,  the 
weapons,  patterns  of  brocade 
and  border  of  robes,  were  set 

d*  PlJneila  t0  single  *n  *ow  plaster  relief,  engraved 
or  stamped,  gilded  and  burn- 
ished.     Without   attempting   to  understand    all 
these  fine  operations  we  can  see  that  the  design 
for  a  picture  of  this  kind  needed  to  be  made  wit' 


Figure  i. 
Shapes  of  Altarpieces. 
a.    Triptych,  with  pre- 


pt 
11a 


de: 

b.    Polyptych. 
ido, 


PAINTING  IN  TEMPERA  37 

great  care  in  advance  and  to  be  strictly  followed. 
It  was  difficult  and  laborious  to  make  any  changes. 
Everything  was  premeditated  and  was  wrought 
out  in  exquisite  detail  and  with  lavish  expenditure 
of  time,  of  skill,  and  of  patience.  Except  in  the 
expression  of  the  faces  there  was  little  room  for 
momentary  inspiration,  and  one  is  tempted  to 
think  that  the  slight  and  quaint  stiffness  of  pose  in 
many  figures  may  have  come  from  the  constraint 
of  fitting  the  head  into  a  disc-like  halo  already 
prepared.  The  boyhood  of  many  a  painter, 
according  to  Vasari,  was  spent  in  a  goldsmith's 
shop,  and  it  is  plain  that  the  master-painter 
must  often  have  had  need  of  a  handy  and  in- 
genious lad  to  help  him  with  these  tiny  details, 
one  who  knew  how  settings  for  jewels  should  be 
made  and  who  could  lay  and  burnish  gold-leaf. 
In  regard  to  the  method  of  painting  in  tempera, 
Mrs.  Herringham,  the  editor  of  Cennino's  book, 
who  has  learned  to  use  this  medium  with  great 
skill,  tells  us  that  the  shadows  "were  made  by  an 
under-painting  of  a  greenish  colour,  which  was 
allowed  to  show  through  the  thin  liquid  colouring 
laid  over  it.  And  it  is  this  under-painting,  more 
skilfully  employed  by  the  later  tempera  painters 
than  by  the  earlier  ones,  which  gives,  I  am  certain, 
the  extremely  illuminated  shadow  tints  and  the 
truthfulness  of  sculpturesque  light  and  shade 
which  underlie  all  their  rainbow-like  colour 
schemes,  and  I  believe  it  accounts  for  the  admir- 
able way  in  which  Florentine  work  especially 
'comes  out'  in  photography,  which  seizes  on  the 


38      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

pale  but  correct  monochrome  on  which  the  pic- 
ture was  built  up."* 

Some  of  the  beautiful  details  which  distinguish 
this  method  of  painting  are  shown  in  plate  4, 
a  detail  from  a  picture  of  the  "Annunciation"  by 
Fra  Filippo  Lippi,  now  in  the  National  Gallery, 
London.  The  panel  is  a  lunette  in  shape  and  the 
whole  design  is  indicated  in  figure  2.     The  whole 


Figure  2.      Sketch  showing  Composition  of  Fra  Fillippo's 
Annunciation. 

ground  of  the  panel  seems  to  have  been  laid  in 
goldf  and  the  painting  executed  upon  this  with 
rather  thin  transparent  colour.  The  fair  head  of 
the  Angel  Gabriel,  framed  in  its  burnished  halo, 
shines  bright  against  the  dark  trees.  He  has 
great  wings  of  peacock's  feathers  sweeping  out 
under  the  curve  of  the  lunette.  He  is  clad  in 
a  mantle  of  golden  pink  over  a  robe  of  creamy 
white.     The  porch  in  which  the  Virgin  is  seated 

*Op.  cit.  p.  200. 

fl  observed  that  an  artist  who  was  making  in  tempera  a 
very  beautiful  copy  of  this  picture  was  doing  it  on  a  gilded 
panel,  and  he  told  me  that  he  was  convinced  that  the  original 
had  been  done  in  that  way,  that  nothing  else  would  give  the 
luminous  qualities  of  the  yellow  and  rose  tints. 


Plate  4.     Fra  Fillippo  Lippi:  The  Angel  Gabriel. 


Wi&M 

f 

■V  s 

1 

t       i 

^  W^$  i  1«mI»\I  ¥  m 

■A 

1 1  MlPJ^^^^B-w 

j      i       ill    ;.'^n*^ltr.-«4S 

I  '  ■ 

^c 

l*r=  ^tXOfe  V^^SS^ 

Plate  c.     Grivelli:  Madonna  and  Saints. 


PAINTING  IN  TEMPERA  39 

is  built  of  warm  tinted  marbles,  yellowish  red  and 
pinkish  gray.  Over  her  chair  and  trailing  on  the 
pavement  is  a  cloth  of  rich  gold  brocade  edged 
with  scarlet  and  gold.  The  Virgin  herself  wears 
a  robe  of  a  rosy  colour  and  a  mantle  of  light  blue 
with  an  ornate  border  of  gold.  It  is  not  a  mere 
incident  of  sacred  history  that  is  here  represented, 
but  a  kind  of  glorified  rendering  of  the  subject  in 
which  nothing  has  been  spared  which  could  add 
to  the  splendor;  the  marble  palace,  the  garden 
full  of  flowers  among  which  the  angel  kneels, 
the  magnificent  attire,  and  the  glowing  colours. 
"This  Annunciation  of  Filippo's, "  says  Mrs.  Her- 
ringham,  "may  be  taken  as  a  guide  in  tempera 
technique.  The  effects  are  just  what  tempera 
can  do;  they  are  the  natural  beauties  of  the 
method."* 

One  who  looks  at  a  painting  only  for  what  is 
natural  and  real  in  its  impression  will  entirely 
fail  to  enjoy  a  work  like  that  illustrated  in  plate 
5,  "The  Madonna  enthroned  between  St.  Jerome 
and  St.  Sebastian,"  painted  by  Carlo  Crivelli 
and  now  in  the  National  Gallery.  It  is  the  work 
of  an  artist  who  spent  much  of  his  life  in  little 
towns  remote  from  great  art  centers  and  from  the 
influence  of  progressive  painters,  and  his  vision 
of  what  a  Madonna  picture  should  be  changed 
very  little  during  the  course  of  years.  Beyond 
the  suggestion  of  a  tender  relation  between  mother 
and  child  and  of  a  child-like  pose  for  the  baby 
he  seems  to  have  cared  very  little  for  natural 
appearance  or  gesture.  His  whole  zeal  was 
lavished  upon  a  rich  and  brilliant  colour  scheme 
*Op.  cit.  p.  188. 


4o      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

and  upon  material  beauty.  His  altarpiece  must 
be  judged  for  what  it  is,  a  piece  of  exquisite  work- 
manship, colour,  and  finish.  All  the  bright  tints 
in  the  background,  marbles,  fruits,  flowers,  and 
brocaded  hangings  have  a  prevailing  golden  tone. 
The  Madonna  wears- a  robe  of  reddish  yellow  with 
a  jewelled  collarette,  and  sleeves  of  gold  brocade 
fitted  over  a  thin  white  fabric.  Her  heavy 
mantle  is  of  dark  blue  embroidered  in  gold  and 
lined  with  green.  St.  Jerome  has  a  cardinal's 
dress  of  fiery  scarlet;  St.  Sebastian  is  arrayed  in  a 
green  doublet  with  gold  sleeves  and  thin  white 
undersleeves,  his  mantle  is  of  cloth  of  gold  lined 
with  an  old  rose  colour,  his  hose  are  of  the  shade 
called  "ashes  of  roses,"  and  his  dainty  shoes  are 
fawn-coloured.  His  hair  is  of  gold  with  a  metallic 
sheen  and  stands  out  in  relief  like  a  wig  of  gilt 
bronze.  Thus  the  whole  panel  shines  with  gold 
and  its  bright  colours  gleam  like  precious  stones 
in  a  finely  wrought  setting. 

Other  examples  of  tempera  painting  illustrated 
in  this  book  are  the  two  little  panels  by  Mantegna 
and  Giovanni  Bellini,  (plates  10,  n),  and  the 
"Madonna  and  Child"  by  Botticelli  (plate  13). 
Perugino's  "Annunciation"  (plate  9),  which  is  in 
a  dark  little  church  in  Fano,  looks  like  a  painting 
in  oil,  but  he  seems  to  have  handled  tempera  with 
results  so  closely  resembling  oil  that  it  is  not 
always  easy  to  say  what  medium  he  has  used.* 

Notwithstanding  the  necessary  differences  be- 
tween the  technique  of  fresco  and  of  tempera,  it 
was  usual  for  every  painter  to  practice  both 
methods.  He  made  himself  an  adept  in  the  use 
*Williamson,  "Perugino,"  Chapter  III. 


PAINTING  IN  TEMPERA  41 

of  each  medium,  working  at  it  until  he  had  mas- 
tered all  material  difficulties  and  it  had  become 
to  him  a  fluent  means  of  expression.  His  experi- 
ence often  included  also  a  practical  knowledge  of 
sculpture  and  of  architecture  and  of  the  minor 
artistic  crafts,  and  he  found  use  for  all  that  he 
knew.  The  workmanship  in  which  he  took  so 
much  delight  was  not  an  end  in  itself.  His  skill 
of  hand  was  an  instrument,  obedient  and  ex- 
pressive, through  which  he  could  reveal  his  ideas 
of  visible  beauty,  the  visions  of  his  dreams,  the 
aspirations  of  his  soul.  Just  in  proportion  to  his 
skill,  the  images  which  filled  his  mind  found  free 
and  adequate  expression. 

In  this  brief  discussion  of  the  early  methods  of 
painting  no  attempt  is  made  to  enter  into  technical 
questions,  which  offer  to  the  art  student  a  fascinat- 
ing field  of  investigation.  The  point  of  impor- 
tance to  the  general  student  is  the  dependence  of 
a  painter  on  a  thorough  knowledge  of  all  the  pro- 
cesses of  his  craft  and  of  their  appropriate  use  and 
their  possibilities  and  limitations.  Especially  is 
it  desirable  to  emphasize  the  pride  and  joy  which 
the  artist  felt  in  his  technical  skill  and  which 
he  longed  to  make  others  observe  and  share.  As 
a  fine  violin  can  be  made  only  by  one  who  so  loves 
it  that  every  bit  of  it  is  wrought  with  patient  care 
and  who  works  at  it  tenderly  until  it  gives  a 
satisfying  tone,  so  the  painter  of  an  altarpiece 
fulfilled  his  commission  with  ardent  zeal,  never 
satisfied  until  the  note  of  beauty  thrilled  his  very 
soul.  As  Mrs.  Herringham  says,  the  "materials 
form  an  intrinsic  part  of  the  soul  of  the  picture — 
not  only  of  its  body. " 


CHAPTER  IV 

Painting  in  Oil 

DURING  the  early  years  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  while  the  painters  of  Italy  were 
executing  delicate  works  in  tempera  like  the 
lunette  of  Fra  Filippo,  a  process  of  painting  in  oil 
colours  was  being  perfected  in  Flanders  by  the 
brothers  Van  Eyck.  When  the  possibilities  of 
this  new  process  were  exhibited  in  their  master- 
piece in  the  church  of  St.  Bavon,  Ghent,  certain 
evident  advantages  over  the  tempera  process  were 
revealed.  The  colour  effects  were  richer  and 
deeper,  the  varnish  used  with  them  gave  a  lustrous 
surface  which  increased  the  brilliance,  and  the 
colours  themselves  could  be  worked  together  and 
the  tones  blended  with  more  freedom  than  was 
permissible  in  tempera.  In  some  respects  the 
fifteenth  century  Flemish  way  of  using  colours 
mixed  with  oil  was  not  unlike  the  tempera  method. 
A  panel  of  wood  was  prepared,  smoothed,  and 
coated  with  plaster,  as  if  for  a  picture  in  tempera, 
and  the  drawing  was  done  on  this  smooth  surface 
with  very  fine  detail.  The  colours  were  spread 
rather  transparently  and  with  the  utmost  delicacy 
and  finish.  The  process  in  its  way  seems  to  have 
been  perfect,  and  paintings  executed  in  this 
manner  are  as  bright  and  glowing  as  if  done  but 
yesterday. 

42 


Plate  7.     Giorgione:  Shepherd  Boy. 


PAINTING  IN  OIL  43 

The  Ghent  altarpiece,  "The  Adoration  of  the 
Mystic  Lamb,"  sets  forth  the  glories  of  heaven 
by  means  of  every  possible  suggestion  of  earthly 
luxury  and  splendor.  Brocades  and  velvets,  furs 
and  jewels,  bedeck  the  saints  and  angels,  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  and  even  the  Eternal  Father  upon 
his  throne.  The  textures  are  rendered  with  great 
truth,  and  the  painters  seem  to  have  observed 
with  the  utmost  attention  and  pleasure  the  way  in 
which  all  these  different  surfaces  reflect  the  light. 
This  delight  in  costly  and  elaborate  clothes  was  a 
marked  enthusiasm  of  their  age.  " No  mediaeval 
or  modern  court,  not  even  that  of  Paris  in  the 
days  of  the  Second  Empire,  can  have  compared 
for  magnificence  of  apparel  with  the  court  of  the 
Dukes  of  Burgundy  in  the  fifteenth  century."* 

The  "Adoration  of  the  Shepherds,"  by  Hugo 
van  der  Goes  (plate  6),  illustrates  the  early 
Flemish  method.  The  elaborate  finish  bestowed 
upon  every  detail  of  foreground  and  background, 
the  flowers,  the  ears  of  wheat  and  the  strands  of 
floating  hair,  the  twigs  of  the  distant  trees,  and 
the  details  of  the  architecture  have  all  been 
wrought  out  with  impartial  devotion.  The  colours 
of  the  costumes  are  very  rich  (see  chapter  vi). 

Alert  and  eager  for  every  new  suggestion  regard- 
ing technical  processes,  the  Italian  artists  of  this 
epoch  showed  their  interest  in  this  new  medium 
by  many  experiments.  Some  of  the  painters 
succeeded  in  obtaining  in  tempera  effects  of  colour 
so  rich  and  deep  that  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish 
the  work  from  oil;  others  combined  the  two 
methods,  making  the  under-painting  in  tempera 
*Conway,  "Early  Flemish  Artists,"  p.  122. 


44      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

and  working  over  this  with  colours  mixed  in  oil 
and  spread  transparently.*  Although  the  Flem- 
ish method  seemed  perfect  when  first  displayed 
in  the  Ghent  altarpiece,  like  a  flower  suddenly 
full-blown,  it  may  be  that  one  of  its  chief  attrac- 
tions to  the  Italian  painters  was  the  promise 
which  new  things  always  hold  of  still  greater  and 
undiscovered  possibilities.  Adopting  the  new 
medium,  they  gradually  abandoned  the  slow  and 
elaborate  Flemish  way  of  using  it  for  a  manner 
bolder  and  freer.  The  Venetian  painters  especial- 
ly delighted  in  the  rich  colours  of  oil,  deeper  and 
fuller  than  the  tones  of  tempera.  Just  at  the 
dawn  of  the  High  Renaissance,  before  Michelan- 
gelo and  Raphael  had  wrought  their  wonders  in 
fresco  on  the  walls  of  the  Vatican,  Giorgione  and 
Titian,  the  famous  pupils  of  Giovanni  Bellini, 
following  and  developing  the  manner  of  their 
master,  in  his  day  the  greatest  of  the  Venetians, 
began  to  use  oil  colours  on  wood,  or  more  com- 
monly on  canvas,  with  that  freedom  of  style  and 
richness  of  result  which  distinguish  the  art  of  the 
High  Renaissance.f 

The  first  great  painting  done  in  the  broad,  free 
way  which  Vasari  calls  the  "grand  manner"  was 
Leonardo  da  Vinci's  "Last  Supper,"  on  the  walls 

*Ch.  Dalbon,  "Les  Origines  de  la  Peinture  a  l'Huile,"  p.  114. 
Williamson,  op.  cit. 

1  "A  Venise,  la  toile  (qui  a  sur  le  bois  l'avantage  de  ne  pas  se 
fendre)  avait,  des  la  fin  du  XVe  siecle,  presque  completement 
detrone  le  bois,  comme  Vasari  l'a  constate  dans  la  biographie 
des  Bellin.  On  l'employait  en  outre  parce  qu'elle  permettait 
de  donner  aux  tableaux  les  dimensions  que  Ton  voulait  et 
aussi  de  les  transporter  plus  facilement. " 

Miintz,  "L'Age  d'  Or,"  p.  576. 


PAINTING  IN  OIL  45 

of  the  Refectory  of  Santa  Maria  delle  Grazie  in 
Milan.  This  painting  may  be  said  to  mark  the 
beginning  of  the  new  age.  It  was  finished  in 
1498.  The  influence  of  Leonardo's  masterpiece 
was  immediate  and  enduring,  but  a  deterioration 
due  to  the  method  of  execution  was  plainly 
discernible  before  many  years  and  the  experiment 
of  applying  oil  colours  to  plaster  walls  was  shown 
to  be  a  failure.  The  painting  remains,  after 
countless  disasters,  the  fortune  of  war  and  the 
indifference  of  peace,  a  monument  of  imperish- 
able beauty  like  the  shattered  marbles  of  the 
Parthenon. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  method  of  Giorgione 
and  Titian  proved  a  greater  and  greater  success, 
as  years  went  by,  and  still  today  it  seems  to  offer 
to  the  painter  possibilities  unfathomed.  Some 
changes  of  fashion  were  the  immediate  result. 
For  the  altar  the  ancona  of  many  panels  (polyp- 
tych)  gave  place  to  a  great  composition  spread 
out  on  a  large  sheet  of  canvas.  For  mural  deco- 
ration, in  Venice,  canvas  covered  walls  painted  in 
oils  were  often  substituted  for  fresco.  The  paint- 
ers, inspired  afresh,  felt  that  they  had  great 
things  to  say,  and  the  freedom  and  vigor  of  the 
new  style  exactly  answered  their  need. 

The  "grand  manner,"  indeed  implied  much 
more  than  a  new  set  of  tools  and  a  new  way  of 
using  them.  It  was  achieved  largely  by  a  new 
way  of  looking  at  things. 

The  early  painters  had  represented  nearly 
every  figure  as  if  set  directly  before  the  observer 
and  facing  the  light.  All  details  were  clearly 
seen  and  effects  of  relief  were  produced  chiefly 


46      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

by  narrow  shadows  along  the  surfaces  turning 
from  the  light  and  by  the  cast  shadows  which 
fell  back,  behind  the  figures  and  were  in  part 
concealed  by  them.  The  fifteenth  century  paint- 
ers often  betrayed  an  interest  in  other  and  stronger 
effects  of  light,  but  they  seldom  ventured  to 
represent  any  important  figure  in  a  strong  side 
light  or  as  seen  against  the  light.  It  seemed 
perhaps  presumptuous  or  irreverent  to  place  a 
saintly  figure  entirely  in  the  shadow.  But  the 
painters  of  the  new  age  saw  things  literally  in  a 
new  light.  They  observed  that  in  nature  forms 
are  revealed  to  us  not  by  contours  which  mark 
them  off  from  surrounding  parts  and  not  always 
by  distinctions  of  colour,  but  far  more  by  the 
effects  of  light.  The  study  of  the  true  relation 
between  form,  colour,  and  light  became  an  en- 
thusiasm. "The  Shepherd  Boy,"  by  Giorgione, 
(plate  7)  beautifully  illustrates  some  of  the  results 
of  this  study.  No  line,  no  contour,  is  visible. 
The  shape  and  relief  of  the  features  is  given  by  the 
delicate  and  subtle  placing  of  the  light  and  dark 
tones  and  their  gradation.  The  direction  from 
which  the  light  falls  is  easily  determined.  Details 
about  the  mouth  and  eyes  are  lost  in  enveloping 
shadows  and  the  relief  of  the  nose  is  indicated  by 
a  long  shadow  falling  aslant  over  the  lower  part 
of  the  face  and  varying  with  its  modeling.  The 
cheeks  and  the  neck  in  the  shadows  are  quite  as 
dark  as  the  hair,  and  in  the  enveloping  shadows  all 
details  are  indistinct  or  quite  lost.  The  composi- 
tion could  not  be  truly  shown  in  a  linear  diagram. 
It  is  determined  by  masses  of  light  and  dark,  their 
relation  and  distribution.     Fully  to  understand 


PAINTING  IN  OIL  47 

the  results  of  this  change  of  treatment  this  picture 
should  be  compared  with  plate  4.  One  may  draw 
nearer  to  an  appreciation  of  Giorgione's  ardent 
study  of  light  and  shade  (chiaroscuro)  by  study- 
ing a  living  face  in  the  same  way,  experimenting 
with  the  model  until  the  true  pose  of  the  head 
and  its  exact  relation  to  the  light  are  discov- 
ered. In  Giorgione's  picture  the  boy's  hair  and 
face  are  of  different  colours,  yet  where  the  face 
in  shadow  is  framed  by  the  hair  these  two  colours 
become  of  the  same  value  and  form  one  mass. 
The  boy's  nose  is  doubtless  of  one  colour  through- 
out, but  the  light  has  divided  it  into  two  masses, 
a  plane  lighted  fully  and  directly  and  a  plane 
turned  from  the  light  and  thrown  into  strong 
shadow.  The  experiment  with  the  model  will 
show  that  in  nature  also  two  distinct  colours  of  the 
same  value  form  one  mass  and  an  expanse  of  one 
local  colour  partly  in  light  and  partly  in  shadow 
forms  two  masses.  To  perceive  this  is  to  take  a 
first  step  toward  an  understanding  of  the  "broad 
manner"  of  painting.  The  Venetian  painters 
delighted  in  the  infinite  variations  in  the  form 
and  depth  of  shadows  cast  across  parts  of  the  face 
or  body  and  conforming  to  its  modeling.  The 
shadow  cast  by  hat  or  hair  upon  the  face,  the 
shadow  cast  by  the  arm  across  the  breast,  or,  as 
in  this  instance,  the  shadow  of  a  nose  across  a 
drooping  mouth  and  chin,  had  an  irresistible 
appeal,  and  to  keep  the  effect  of  the  same  golden 
flesh  tone  through  high  light,  half-tone,  and 
shadow  was  a  problem  of  entrancing  difficulty. 
As  the  interest  in  the  power  of  light  and  the 
mystery  of  shadow  developed  it  became  more 


48      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

and  more  the  fashion  to  use  light  for  the  strongest 
accents  in  the  picture  composition  and  to  surround 
the  light  by  darks  of  much  greater  extent.  The 
composition  was  often  built  up,  as  in  this  illustra- 
tion, by  one  important  light  set  in  a  great  mass  of 
dark  and  sustained  by  some  smaller  or  less  marked 
mass  of  light  which  might  be  called  the  echo. 
The  dark  parts  were  usually  painted  with  thin 
and  rather  liquid  colour  through  which  the  grain 
of  the  canvas  often  shows.  The  lights  on  the 
contrary,  were  laid  on  in  thick  masses  of  pigment 
in  which  the  brush  work  is  clearly  visible.  The 
modeling  of  half-tones  was  in  some  parts  very 
boldly  treated,  in  others  it  was  extremely  subtle. 
The  work  has  a  spontaneous  character  in  marked 
contrast  to  elaborately  planned  designs  of  the 
earlier  times.  One  feels  the  excitement  of  sudden 
inspiration;  every  brush  stroke  is  creative. 

Of  the  other  examples  of  oil  painting  here 
given,  plate  15,  "The  Entombment,"  by  Titian, 
and  plate  19,  "Don  Balthazar  Carlos,"  by  Velas- 
quez, are,  like  the  "Shepherd  Boy,"  on  canvas. 
Andrea  del  Sarto's  "Pieta, "  plate  16,  is  on  wood, 
as  are  also  the  two  little  Dutch  pictures,  plates 
17  and  18.  The  effects  of  colour  and  of  chiaros- 
curo which  they  reveal  are  discussed  in  the  appro- 
priate chapters.  All  illustrate  the  fluent  results, 
the  easy  modification  of  design,  the  gradual  devel- 
opment and  accent  of  one  part  and  subordination 
of  the  rest  which  is  possible  in  this  medium. 
They  vary  greatly  in  size:  the  "Philosopher"  of 
Rembrandt  is  about  eleven  by  thirteen  inches; 
the  portrait  by  Velasquez  is   six  feet   and  two 


PAINTING  IN  OIL  49 

inches  by  three  feet  and  seven  inches;  and  the 
altarpiece  by  Titian  is  about  four  feet  by  seven. 
Even  as  late  as  the  seventeenth  century  the 
relation  of  master  and  'prentice  still  existed,  and 
the  'prentice  was  taught  to  grind  colours,  to 
prepare  his  master's  palette  and  canvas  and  to 
paint  minor  parts  of  his  master's  pictures  or  to 
make  copies  of  them.  Because  of  this  training 
the  early  works  of  a  painter  often  closely  resemble 
those  of  his  master.* 

*See  Burlington  Magazine,   1905,  "The  Life  of  a  Dutch 
Artist  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,"  by  Dr.  W.  Martin. 


ENTHUSIASMS 


"All  great  art  is  praise." 

Ruskin. 


CHAPTER  V 

Ideals  of  the  Trecento 

THE  greatest  painters  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, or  the  "trecento,''  as  it  is  called  in 
Italy,  belong  to  its  earliest  decades.  Giotto  of 
Florence  and  Duccio  of  Siena  at  the  very  begin- 
ning of  the  century  produced  masterpieces  which 
revealed  how  great  was  the  art  they  practiced, 
how  superior  to  mosaic  as  a  means  of  expressing 
beauty  of  feeling  and  of  action  and  of  combining 
with  pictorial  subjects  decorative  schemes,  rich 
and  splendid  in  effect.  To  understand  these 
early  works,  to  look  upon  them  not  simply  as 
promises  of  something  greater  to  come,  but  as 
having  in  themselves  both  dignity  and  beauty,  it 
is  important  to  grasp  as  clearly  as  possible  the 
purpose  which  the  painter  had  in  mind,  his  own 
way  of  solving  the  problems  which  the  nature  of 
his  commission  demanded. 

The  greatest  commissions  for  which  a  painter 
of  the  fourteenth  century  in  Italy  dared  hope  were 
for  church  and  chapel  decorations  in  fresco  and 
for  altarpieces  in  tempera.  The  subjects  desired 
for  these  required  much  iconography  or  picture 
story-telling,  and  the  imagination  of  the  painter 
was  guided  and  inspired  by  the  need  of  gratifying 
these  demands.  An  artist  is  usually  both  ingen- 
53 


54      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

ious  and  enthusiastic  and  he  finds  some  happy- 
way  of  turning  his  commission  into  something 
which  he  is  longing  to  do.  In  story-telling  pic- 
tures, figures  are  necessary,  and  some  kind  of 
setting  for  them,  either  outdoor  or  indoor,  that  is, 
either  landscape  or  architecture.  The  perception 
of  those  things  in  a  story  which  are  properly 
pictorial  seems  to  have  been  intuitive  to  an  old 
Italian  painter.  Indeed,  from  the  earliest  dawn 
of  Christian  art  in  the  catacombs  both  painters 
and  sculptors  devoted  their  talents  to  the  telling 
of  stories.  "  Pictures, "  said  one  of  the  church 
Fathers,  "are  the  books  of  the  simple."  One 
peculiar  charm  of  early  work,  never  to  be  over- 
looked, is  the  ingenuity  shown  by  the  artist  in 
choosing  those  suggestions  of  the  story  which 
could  be  adapted  to  his  own  art.  The  best 
artists  even  in  the  rudest  times  did  more  than  this. 
They  conceived  the  subject  grandly,  and  with 
more  than  its  historical  significance,  and  they 
worked  out  this  conception  into  a  noble  design, 
forming  or  contributing  to  a  fine  scheme  of  decora- 
tion. 

By  analyzing  a  few  examples  of  trecento  paint- 
ing, by  observing  the  treatment  of  figures,  of 
landscape,  and  of  bits  of  architecture  in  the  works 
of  Giotto  and  Duccio  and  of  their  followers,  one 
comes  into  closer  touch  with  the  prevalent  ideas 
of  the  time  in  regard  to  the  art  of  painting  and 
learns  to  recognize  the  personal  view  of  these 
artists,  their  likenesses  and  differences. 

Some  of  the  characteristics  of  Giotto,  certain 
traits  which  gave  him  so  powerful  an  influence  on 
painters,  are  shown  in  plate  i,  a  picture  illustrat- 


IDEALS  OF  THE  TRECENTO         55 

ing  one  incident  in  the  story  of  the  life  of  the 
Virgin,  "The  Return  of  Joachim  to  the  Sheep- 
fold.  "  The  essentials  of  the  subject  are  presented 
simply  and  directly.  Without  any  familiarity 
with  the  story,  we  should  still  know  that  an  old 
man  is  entering  on  the  scene,  lost  in  deep  and  sad 
thought,  that  the  young  shepherds  are  respectful 
and  wondering,  and  that  the  little  dog  is  glad. 
The  same  masterful  simplicity  is  used  in  indicating 
the  characteristic  differences  in  pose  and  appear- 
ance between  youth  and  age,  and  the  effect  pro- 
duced by  action  and  emotion  upon  the  heavy 
clothing.  If  we  meditate  upon  the  story  from  a 
painter's  point  of  view,  we  perceive  how  Giotto 
chose  those  things  in  it  which  are  truly  pictorial 
and  which  can  be  told  without  words. 

Perkins  says,  in  speaking  of  Giotto's  mastery 
of  significant  action  and  gesture:  "We  can  bring 
to  mind  no  other  artist  who  can  be  said  to  have 
accomplished  as  much  as  did  Giotto,  at  so  wonder- 
fully slight  an  expenditure  of  means.  The  direct 
simplicity  and  significance  of  every  line  and  touch, 
of  every  movement  and  gesture,  of  every  detail 
and  of  every  spot  of  colour,  cannot  escape  the 
observation  of  any  serious  student  of  Giotto's 
art.  Nor  does  there  exist  a  single  genuine  creation 
of  the  master's  brush  which  does  not  possess,  to  a 
greater  or  a  less  extent,  this  same  marked  spirit 
of  concise  expression.  "* 

To  realize  the  fitness  of  this  grandly  simple 

treatment  one  should  remember  that  each  of  these 

painted  scenes  was  a  part  of  a  vast  design,  that 

its  place  upon  the  wall  was  far  above  the  eye,  and 

*Perkins,  op.  cit.  p.  140. 


56       MASTERPIECES   OF   PAINTING 

that  any  reliance  upon  fine  details  and  delicate 
finish  would  have  been  inappropriate  and  mis- 
placed. Pose  and  gesture  reveal  emotion  as 
truly  as  facial  expression  and  are  observed  from 
a  greater  distance.  To  Giotto  clothes,  even  the 
heavy  formless  garments  in  which  his  figures  are 
clad,  become  a  part  of  the  wearer  and  betray  his 
feelings.  To  understand  and  follow  the  thought 
of  Giotto,  it  is  necessary  to  notice  unconscious 
attitudes  and  gestures,  and  the  way  in  which 
feeling,  action,  and  habit  affect  the  body  and  the 
clothes  which  cover  it.  A  child's  little  garment, 
for  instance,  in  the  dainty  freshness  of  morning 
speaks  chiefly  of  the  care  of  mother  and  nurse, 
but  before  night  a  record  is  imprinted  upon  it,  its 
wrinkles,  rents,  and  stains  are  witnesses  to  the 
actions,  the  emotions,  the  joys  and  sorrows,  of 
a  day  of  quivering  life.  The  artist  is  constrained 
to  choose  visible  signs  like  these  to  signify  the 
inward  and  spiritual,  the  life  of  the  soul.  His 
one  means  of  expression  is  "the  look  of  things." 
Perkins  thus  sums  up  the  characteristics  of  Giotto 
shown  in  this  great  series  of  frescoes:  "Eminently 
a  naturalist,  in  the  highest  meaning  of  the  term, 
his  work  is  equally  removed  from  the  stiff  con- 
ventionality of  his  Byzantine  predecessors,  and 
the  trivial  and  photographic  realism  of  a  later 
age.  His  was  an  idealized  naturalism,  one  which 
aimed  at  the  expression  of  Nature's  deeper  truths, 
far  rather  than  at  the  exact  reproduction  of  her 
more  obvious  outward  details."*  Vasari  in  his 
day  partly  understood  this.  He  says:  "Giotto 
has  indeed  well-merited  to  be  called  the  disciple 
*Perkins,  op.  cit.  p.  139. 


IDEALS   OF   THE   TRECENTO        57 

of  nature  rather  than  of  other  masters;  having 
not  only  studiously  cultivated  his  natural  facul- 
ties, but  being  perpetually  occupied  in  drawing 
fresh  stores  from  nature,  which  was  to  him  the 
never-failing  source  of  inspiration."* 

Vasari's  appreciation  of  early  works  is  indeed 
one  of  his  greatest  charms.  The  taste  of  his  time, 
the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  would 
hardly  lead  one  to  expect  from  him  so  keen  an 
admiration  for  the  natural  and  simple.  He  says, 
in  describing  Giotto's  frescoes  at  Assisi:  "Among 
other  figures  that  of  a  thirsty  man  stooping  to 
drink  from  a  spring  is  worthy  of  perpetual  praise; 
the  eager  desire  with  which  he  bends  towards  the 
water  is  portrayed  with  such  marvellous  effect 
that  one  could  almost  believe  him  to  be  a  living 
man  actually  drinking."  This  keen  observation 
of  natural,  unconscious  gesture  and  action  of 
people  and  of  animals  is  constantly  found  through- 
out the  work  of  Giotto.  The  happy  little  dog 
who  runs  to  meet  Joachim,  the  hateful  little  beast 
who  snaps  at  "Poverty,"  the  plodding  donkey 
and  the  awkward  little  foal,  have  been  observed 
with  sharp  eyes. 

Another  example  of  fourteenth  century  figure 
painting  is  given  in  plate  8,  "The  Dream  of  St. 
Martin,"  one  of  the  scenes  from  the  life  of  this 
saint  painted  by  Simone  Martini  (see  chapter  II). 
Simone  has  thought  out  a  pictorial  way  of  indicat- 
ing the  essentials  of  the  story  and  the  feelings  of 
the  different  characters,  the  profound  sleep  of  the 
young  soldier,  the  gentle  sympathy  of  the  atten- 
dant angels,  and  the  confident  and  loving  gesture 

*Vasari,  Blashfield  Edition.  Vol.  I,  p.  56. 


58      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

of  Christ.  These  feelings  he  has  managed  to 
indicate  without  losing  his  chance  to  use  gay 
colours  and  gold.  He  puts  more  expression  into 
the  faces  than  did  Giotto.  In  his  designs  for 
garments,  hangings,  and  coverings  he  has  found 
means  to  gratify  a  taste  for  rich  and  varied  pat- 
terns and  colours  giving  the  gorgeous  effects  in 
which  he  always  delighted,  though  in  this  instance 
they  seem  hardly  appropriate  to  his  subject  of 
rough  soldier  life.  In  all  these  scenes  the  soldiers 
and  angels  alike  have  golden  hair  and  pink  cheeks, 
and  here,  as  in  his  other  works,  he  insists  upon 
details  of  pattern  in  stuffs,  brocades,  weapons, 
trappings  and  saintly  attributes  which  break  his 
design  into  bright  patches  of  colour. 

The  incident  here  illustrated  is  thus  related  by 
Mrs.  Jameson:  "It  happened  one  day  that  St. 
Martin,  on  going  out  of  the  gate  of  the  city 
(Amiens),  was  met  by  a  poor  naked  beggar, 
shivering  with  cold;  and  he  felt  compassion  for 
him,  and  having  nothing  but  his  cloak  and  his  arms 
he,  with  his  sword,  divided  his  cloak  in  twain, 
and  gave  one  half  of  it  to  the  beggar,  covering 
himself  as  he  might  with  the  other  half.  And 
that  same  night,  being  asleep,  he  beheld  in  a  dream 
the  Lord  Jesus,  who  stood  before  him,  having  on 
his  shoulders  the  half  of  the  cloak  which  he  had 
bestowed  on  the  beggar;  and  Jesus  said  to  the 
angels  who  were  around  him:  'Know  ye  who 
hath  thus  arrayed  me?  My  servant  Martin, 
though  yet  unbaptized,  hath  done  this!'"* 

Landscape  painting,  like  figure  painting,  was  de- 
veloped by  the  demands  of  story-telling  pictures. 
*" Sacred  and  Legendary  Art,"  Vol.  II,  p.  706. 


IDEALS   OF   THE   TRECENTO        59 

It  was  indeed  a  child  of  old  Mother  Necessity. 
The  painter  was  forced  to  invent  some  suitable 
setting  for  his  figures,  and  certain  incidents 
required  that  this  setting  or  background  should 
show  some  bit  of  open  country.  In  early  paint- 
ings and  reliefs  the  landscape  is  always  subordinate 
in  interest  to  the  figures  and  is  often  hardly  more 
than  a  hint  or  symbol,  as  rough  and  summary 
perhaps  as  the  background  used  to  indicate  the 
place  in  some  scene  of  a  miracle  play.  There 
were  certain  incidents,  as  that,  for  instance, 
shown  in  plate  1,  which  needed  a  more  definite 
indication  of  place.  The  shepherds  and  their 
mountain  sheepfold  are  a  part  of  the  story. 
Giotto  had  a  very  simple  way  of  showing  a 
mountain  region  by  the  profile  of  hills  against  the 
sky  and  a  few  scattered  trees  upon  their  slopes. 
The  figures  stand  in  front  of  this  setting  almost  as 
if  moving  across  a  stage  to  which  it  forms  a  back- 
ground. There  is  a  feeling  of  space,  of  air,  and 
of  distance  behind  the  figures,  but  the  eye  is  not 
drawn  back  to  it.  The  interest  centers  wholly 
on  the  actions  and  emotions  of  the  figures.* 

The  story  of  Giotto's  life  and  of  his  journeys 
shows  that  he  must  have  been  familiar  withfrnany 
of  the  most  beautiful  mountain  regions  of  Italy, 
must  have  known  her  olive-clad  hillsides,  her  wide 
valleys,  her  clear  limitless  vistas.  But  from  this 
"inexhaustible  source  of  information"  he  took 
only  what  he  needed,  a  few  cliffs  and  a  few  trees, 
and  these  he  expressed  in  their  simplest  terms. 
This  desolate  and  almost  treeless  mountain  side 

*See  J.  Guthmann,  "Die  Landschaftsmalerei  der  Toskanis- 
chen  und  Umbrischen  Kunst,"  Erstes  Kapitel. 


60      MASTERPIECES   OF  PAINTING 

records  perhaps  a  memory  of  the  dreary  chalk 
hills  still  used  in  Tuscany  as  pasturage  for  sheep 
and  goats. 

Duccio  of  Siena  used  landscape  backgrounds 
nearly  as  simple  as  those  of  Giotto.  His  trees 
are  darkly  silhouetted  against  a  golden  sky  and 
the  hills  are  sharply  outlined  in  a  manner  not 
unlike  Giotto's,  but  there  is  more  connection 
suggested  by  broken  country  between  the  fore- 
ground and  the  background,  and  in  this  inter- 
mediate region  some  of  the  figures  are  placed. 
They  are  hardly  far  enough  back  to  be  said  to 
occupy  the  middle  distance.  Simone  Martini 
in  his  portrait  of  a  famous  captain  of  his  day, 
whom  he  represents  riding  along  from  a  camp  in  a 
valley  to  a  city  on  a  hill,  Ambrogio  Lorenzetti  in 
his  frescoes  in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico  of  Siena  and 
other  painters  in  the  Campo  Santo  of  Pisa,  gave 
landscape  a  more  important  role  and  set  a  fashion 
which  was  followed  with  enthusiasm.  The  later 
painters  of  the  fourteenth  century  invented  quaint 
ways  of  suggesting  much  wider  stretches  of  coun- 
try such  as  spread  out  before  the  eye  in  the  clear 
Italian  atmosphere.  Some  of  the  great  frescoed 
interiors,  the  work  of  these  later  "trecentisti," 
as  for  example  the  Spanish  Chapel  in  Santa  Maria 
Novella,  Florence,  are  like  long  descriptive  poems. 
Nothing  can  happen  until  we  have  been  told 
exactly  where  it  happened.  Guthmann  says  that 
in  the  representation  of  landscape  the  scholars 
of  Giotto  entirely  misunderstood  their  master, 
who  always  kept  his  scenery  the  handmaid  of  the 
action.  The  wide  landscape  in  these  later  frescoes 
is  made  up  of  many  details  enumerated  with  the 


IDEALS   OF   THE   TRECENTO        61 


interest  a  child  might  show  in  the  objects  which 
belong  to  his  toy  village  or  the  things  he  sees  as 
he  goes  out  to  walk.  The  scale  of  different  ob- 
jects and  their  probable  distance  from  the  eye  is 
hardly  considered;  the  topography  is  complicated 
and  not  very  reasonable,  and  the  interest  of  the 
observer  is  engaged  by  a  variety  of  successive 
attractions  instead  of  receiving  a  single  and 
powerful  impression.     There  is  no  suggestion  of 


Figure  3. 

a.  Roof  of  Arezzo,  from  the  fresco  by  Giotto  in  Lower  Church 

of  St.  Francis  in  Assisi. 

b.  Roofs  of  Assisi,  from  a  photograph  taken  near  the  Church 

of  St.  Francis. 

the  effect  on  the  outdoor  world  of  the  conditions 
of  weather  or  season  and  rarely  any  hint  of  the 
time  of  day.  Thus  from  its  inception  in  the  mind 
of  the  artist  this  kind  of  landscape  painting  differs 
wholly  from  modern  work,  in  which  the  painter 
has  taken  for  his  theme  a  single  and  passing  aspect 
of  nature. 

A  hint  of  Giotto's  method  of  dealing  with  the 
architectural  setting  often  required  for  his  story- 
telling subjects  is  illustrated  in  figure  3.  The 
sketch  marked  (a)  is  drawn  from  Giotto's  picture 


62      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

of  St.  Francis  driving  the  Demons  from  Arezzo, 
one  of  the  scenes  in  the  life  of  that  saint  which 
form  part  of  the  frescoed  decoration  of  the  Upper 
Church  of  St.  Francis  at  Assisi,  and  (b)  is  a  sketch 
of  a  bit  of  Assisi  drawn  from  a  photograph  taken 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  church.  Both  show  the 
crowded  houses  and  the  slender  towers  and  little 
belfries  characteristic  of  the  small  hill  towns  of 
Italy,  built  on  steep  slopes  before  the  days  of 
grading  and  hardly  changed  since  mediaeval 
times.  The  similarity  is  not  such  as  would  indi- 
cate that  Giotto  sketched  from  nature,  but  it 
seems  rather  to  show  that  for  suggestions  for  the 
town  he  wished  to  paint,  he  looked  in  going  to  and 
from  his  work  at  the  town  in  which  he  was  living 
and  thus  got  the  hints  he  needed.  He  was  in- 
terested in  the  construction  of  buildings  and  in 
the  perspective  required  for  their  representation 
upon  the  flat  wall;  he  was  a  fine  architect  and 
understood  perfectly  the  beauties  of  Italian 
Gothic;  he  often  indicated  the  materials  and 
decorations  of  the  buildings  he  introduced,  yet 
he  was  satisfied  when  he  had  suggested  the  place 
of  the  action.  This  suggestive  treatment  of 
architectural  setting  gives  to  the  scenes  in  which 
it  appears  a  certain  unreality.  It  is  not  always 
readily  understood  by  those  who,  judging  from 
more  modern  work,  feel  that  the  setting  ought  to 
create  an  illusion.  Giotto's  way  is  not  to  deceive 
the  eye  but  to  stimulate  the  imagination. 

A  hint  of  the  trecento  method  of  representing 
an  interior  is  given  in  the  sleeping  room  of  the 
young  soldier  Martin  in  Simone's  fresco  (plate  8). 
The  linear  perspective  would  bear  no  tests  but 


Plate  8.     Simone  Martini:    Dream  of  St.  Martin. 


Plate  9.     Perugino:  Annunciation. 


IDEALS   OF  THE  TRECENTO        63 

it  is  suggested  with  enough  cleverness  to  give  an 
impression  of  depth.  One  feels  that  the  painter 
was  more  interested  in  the  chance  given  by  this 
interior  for  the  display  of  rich  ornamentation 
than  for  the  opportunity  he  might  have  found  for 
producing  an  effect  of  space  and  air  behind  the 
figures.  Simone  loved  brocades  and  embroideries 
and  plaids,  any  device  for  bringing  together  a 
variety  of  pleasing  colours,  and  thus  even  in  this 
scene  of  soldier  life  he  has  indulged  his  taste  by 
spreading  a  plaided  coverlet  upon  the  bed,  for 
which  he  has  also  provided  dainty  hand-wrought 
linen. 

In  the  works  of  the  later  "  trecentisti "  the 
architecture  is  treated  in  an  easy-going  manner 
like  the  landscape.  The  buildings  seem  to  lack 
solidity  and  there  is  scarcely  a  suggestion  of  the 
nature  of  the  building  material.  As  to  the  linear 
perspective,  the  word  "intuitive,"  which  has 
been  applied  to  the  perspective  method  used  in 
Pompeiian  frescoes,  would  be  equally  applicable 
to  the  queer  little  edifices  here  represented.  The 
same  easy,  fluent  treatment  is  bestowed  upon  all 
accessories.  The  world  created  by  the  painter 
needs  to  be  accepted  without  challenge.  The 
charm  of  it  lies  in  part  in  its  unreality.  Along 
the  roads  and  hillsides  of  a  pleasant  dreamland 
move  frail  beautiful  beings  who  seem  to  belong 
perfectly  to  the  enchanted  region  in  which  they 
are  set.  We  are  invited  to  follow  them  up  and 
down  the  walls  and  to  read  the  story  of  their  lives 
with  every  detail  carefully  enumerated.  A  geol- 
ogist might  scoff  at  the  mountains,  a  mathema- 
tician at  the  perspective;  archangels  and  dragons 


64       MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

are  as  much  at  home  here  as  fairies  in  fairyland. 
Only  occasionally  among  the  works  of  the  later 
trecentisti  do  we  get  glimpses  of  that  earnest 
spirit  of  investigation  and  experiment,  that  de- 
voted study  of  nature  and  of  natural  appearance, 
which  marks  the  beginning  of  the  next  century. 
In  wealth  of  ideas,  however,  these  early  painters 
nearly  equalled  their  successors;  ideas  often  full  of 
picturesqueness  and  sometimes  of  deep  poetic 
feeling. 

The  interest  created  in  the  study  of  landscape 
and  the  possibility  of  reproducing  with  the  brush 
the  appearance  of  wide  stretches  of  country  was 
after  all  no  slight  contribution  to  the  art  of  paint- 
ing. This  early  landscape  painting,  so  childish 
and  quaint  with  its  toy  houses  and  other  charming 
absurdities,  gave  place  in  the  succeeding  age  to  a 
more  mature  and  dignified  representation  of  out- 
door nature. 

The  best  works  of  these  later  trecentisti  com- 
bine the  qualities  of  the  schools  of  Florence  and 
of  Siena,  and  although  the  masterful  simplicity 
of  Giotto  is  wanting  and  the  extreme  sensitive- 
ness of  Simone  Martini,  they  have  great  decora- 
tive beauty,  picturesqueness,  lovely  colour,  and 
delightful  fancies. 

All  the  great  paintings  of  the  fourteenth  century 
are  religious  in  purpose  and  in  subject,  yet  they 
present  generally  the  popular  rather  than  the 
ecclesiastical  aspect  of  religion.  Painters  are 
more  impressed  by  what  they  see  than  by  what 
they  hear,  and  it  may  well  be  that  what  seems 
most  purely  ecclesiastical  in  the  great  religious 
compositions  was  made  vivid  to  the  imagination 


IDEALS   OF   THE   TRECENTO        65 

of  the  painter  not  by  any  doctrinal  teaching  but 
by  some  gorgeous  ceremony.  He  touched  church 
dogma  with  the  same  light  touch  with  which  he 
ventured  to  approach  science,  literature,  and  all 
learning,  taking  from  each  great  theme  some 
pictorial  suggestion  which  he  could  use  in  his 
work.  Formal  composition,  strongly  centralized, 
was  set  before  his  eyes  at  every  great  church 
function  and  at  every  courtly  pageant.  He  had 
but  to  combine  features  of  these  gorgeous  shows 
and  to  add  a  few  imaginative  touches  for  his  idea 
of  the  Court  of  Heaven,  of  the  Judgment-seat  of 
Christ.  The  figurative  language  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  and  of  the  solemn  anthems  occurring 
repeatedly  in  the  church  services  could  furnish 
him  with  suggestions  for  this  imaginative  part. 
Ideas  which  to  us  seem  almost  ineffable,  scarcely 
to  be  expressed  even  in  the  mystic  language  of 
poetry,  the  early  painter  chose  with  absolute 
simplicity  and  no  consciousness  of  irreverence  as 
a  fitting  theme  for  his  brush.  Such  imagery  may 
be  very  familar  to  us  through  the  words  of  scrip- 
ture and  of  ancient  and  modern  hymns,  and  yet 
the  pictorial  aspect  of  it  seems  to  depart  with 
childhood.  One  or  two  instances  may  show  this. 
Take  for  example  the  hymn  beginning: 

"Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 
In  sparkling  raiment  bright, 
The  armies  of  the  ransomed  saints 
Throng  up  the  steeps  of  light. " 

The  multitude,  the  "sparkling  raiment,"  the 
"steeps  of  light,"  for  these  conceptions  the  early 


66      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

painter  wanted  a  beautifully  prepared  panel  or  a 
big  wall.  And  when  we  read  the  ancient  hymns 
it  seems  as  if  the  painter  might  have  had  the  very 
words  in  mind.  For  instance,  the  expressions 
used  in  the  hymn  which  in  one  of  the  translations 
is  known  to  us  as  "Mother  dear,  Jerusalem," 
seem  to  be  illustrated  in  the  old  paintings  in 
every  detail;  "  the  gardens  and  the  gallant  walks, " 
the  "towers  and  the  pinnacles,"  the  flowers,  the 
Tree  of  Life,  the  angels,  and  even  the  "  King  that 
sitteth  on  the  throne  in  His  felicity.  "* 

The  events  of  sacred  history  which  the  painter 
was  called  upon  to  portray  he  may  have  seen  set 
forth  in  mystery  or  miracle  play,  and  had  he  tried 
he  might  never  have  been  able  to  free  his  mind 
of  some  preconceived  notion  regarding  the  appro- 
priate treatment  of  each  important  subject. 
Thus  the  ideas  to  which  he  gave  form  and  sub- 
stance were  popular  ideas  and  he  made  himself 
understood  by  the  people  of  whom  he  was  one. 

*In  Prof.  Von  Mach's  "Outlines  of  the  History  of  Painting," 
published  since  this  was  written,  the  author  has  chosen  the 
same  hymn  as  an  illustration  of  the  fervor  found  in  the  works 
of  Fra  Angelico,  one  of  the  greatest  artistic  successors  of  these 
later  "trecentisti."  This  close  relation  between  the  imagery 
of  religious  poets  and  painters  has,  of  course,  been  often  ob- 
served. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Enthusiasms  of  the  Quattrocento 

"Grace  a  l'opiniatrete  admirable  des  peintres  du  XVe 
siecle,  grace  a  leurs  investigations  precises,  grace  a  leurs 
initiatives  hardies,  les  herureux  genies  du  siecle  suivant  allaient 
pouvoir  bientot  grandir  a  leur  aise  et  s'epanouir  librement 
dans  un  milieu  merveilleusement  prepare.  Chers  et  vaillants 
ouvriers  de  la  premiere  heure,  si  sinceres,  si  actifs,  si  originaux, 
est-il  possible  d'avoir  pour  vous  trop  de  respect,  de  sympathie 
et  d'admiration?"     Lafenestre,  " Peinture  Italienne"  p.  135. 

THE  spirit  of  the  fifteenth  century,  or  the 
"quattrocento,"  as  it  is  called,  in  Italy,  has 
often  been  characterized  by  the  adjective  "youth- 
ful." This  spirit  is  clearly  shown  in  the  art  of 
the  quattrocento,  an  art  filled  with  the  zeal  and 
fire  of  youth,  youth's  boundless  ambition  and 
self-confidence,  restrained  and  dignified  by  the 
earnest  desire  and  search  for  truth  that  often 
distinguishes  the  dawn  of  a  noble  manhood. 
The  change  from  the  fourteenth  century  manner 
was  gradual,  like  the  growth  of  youthful  intelli- 
gence, yet  marked  by  sudden  outbursts  of  im- 
patience at  old  ways,  by  the  eager  investigation 
and  the  daring  experiment  which  indicate  the 
development  of  early  genius. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  century  the  commissions 
received   by  painters   differed   little  from   those 

67 


68      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

of  the  previous  period.  There  was  the  same 
demand  for  frescoed  walls  in  churches  and  chapels 
and  for  altarpieces  in  tempera,  for  formal  com- 
positions and  story-telling  pictures,  all  religious 
in  subject. 

The  impatience  with  old  ways  was  felt  by  the 
artists  themselves  rather  than  by  their  patrons. 
The  general  similarity  in  the  purpose  and  in  the 
style  of  the  work  makes  clearer  a  change  of  interest 
on  the  part  of  the  artist.  Painters  and  sculptors 
alike  revolted  against  the  gentle  and  delicate 
manner  of  figure  drawing  which  marks  the  art  of 
the  later  trecentisti,  and,  thrilled  by  the  example 
of  the  sculptor  Donatello,  the  painters  took  up 
the  study  of  drawing  with  vigor  and  delight.  It 
was  their  pride  to  master  the  most  difficult  prob- 
lems of  figure  drawing.  Any  artist  who  achieved 
a  wonderful  bit,  strong  and  correct,  could  count 
upon  admiration  and  praise  from  his  fellow  crafts- 
men. They  all  exulted  in  the  difficulties  of 
foreshortening,  studying  the  appearance  of  the 
body  in  the  most  complicated  positions  and  from 
every  possible  point  of  view.  Their  interest 
extended  from  the  study  of  the  appearance  to 
the  study  of  the  structure  of  the  body,  its  bony 
framework  and  system  of  muscles,  and  the  changes 
produced  by  action  upon  the  form  and  position 
of  its  various  parts,  a  study  called  in  studio 
phrase  " artistic  anatomy."  They  observed  the 
characteristic  form  of  the  nude  body  in  all  its 
changes  and  modifications  of  shape  and  propor- 
tion from  babyhood  through  childhood,  youth, 
maturity,  and  old  age.  The  beautiful,  the  ugly, 
the  tall,  the  short,  the  fat,  the  emaciated,  the 


ENTHUSIASMS  OF  QUATTROCENTO    69 

deformed;  the  peasant,  the  scholar,  the  courtier; 
humanity  in  all  its  possible  shapes,  from  ideal 
beauty  such  as  angels  might  wear  to  the  most 
horrible  distortions  of  evil  fit  to  clothe  the  powers 
of  hell.  And  through  this  body,  so  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made,  the  painters  felt  the  struggling 
soul,  moving  its  strange  mechanism  and  spurring 
it  on  for  good  or  ill.  With  so  much  to  be  learned 
these  masters  of  the  new  age  scarcely  needed  the 
injunction  of  Cennino,  "to  draw  always,  holidays 
and  workdays." 

The  development  of  portrait  painting  in  this 
period  resulted  in  part  from  this  keener  study  of 
human  nature  and  of  the  visible  marks  of  charac- 
ter and  personality,  and  from  the  attainment  of 
skill  to  render  these  with  accuracy. 

Another  natural  result  of  the  growth  in  observa- 
tion and  in  ability  to  record  impressions  by  means 
of  the  brush  is  seen  in  the  increased  beauty  and 
truth  of  the  landscape  backgrounds.  The  paint- 
ers studied  the  actual  appearance  of  mountains, 
trees,  sky  and  clouds,  and  began  to  note  the 
changes  due  to  the  season,  the  time  of  day,  and 
even  of  the  weather.  Fra  Angelico,  as  Berenson 
observes,  "was  among  the  first  to  communicate 
a  sense  of  the  pleasantness  of  nature."*  His 
back-grounds  show  the  difference  between  the 
nearer  and  the  more  distant  mountains  fading 
in  the  perspective  of  the  air,  he  notes  the  blossom- 
ing fruit  trees  in  springtime,  the  hot  haze  over  the 
lake  in  summer,  the  clear  silhouette  of  various 
trees  against  the  sky.     Gentile  da  Fabriano  in  his 

*Berenson,  "The  Florentine  Painters  of  the  Renaissance," 
p.  26. 


7o      MASTERPIECES   OF  PAINTING 

beautiful  "Adoration"  in  the  Academy,  Florence, 
has  suggested  many  characteristic  aspects  of 
Italian  scenery,  and  in  one  of  the  tiny  predella 
panels,  representing  the  "Flight  into  Egypt,"  he 
has  made  a  most  interesting  attempt  to  show 
sunlight  on  the  hills.  Each  of  these  painters, 
although  he  learned  from  nature,  borrowed  from 
her  rather  than  copied  her.  He  was  in  a  sense 
a  landscape  gardener,  setting  out  his  trees  and 
laying  his  paths  according  to  some  idea  of  his 
own,  and  with  a  peculiar  liking  for  anything  exotic 
and  strange.  A  bit  of  quattrocento  landscape 
is  shown  in  plate  2;  the  hillsides,  with  formal 
gardens,  villas  and  little  towns  with  many  towers 
on  the  tops  of  the  hills,  are  very  like  the  slopes 
about  Florence;  the  slender  cypresses  and  flat 
umbrella  pines  Benozzo  might  have  seen  every 
day,  and  the  palms  also  perhaps  in  the  palace 
gardens.  He  found  the  Florentine  country  suit- 
able enough  for  his  idea  of  Palestine  and  beautiful 
enough  for  Heaven  itself. 

The  difficulties  of  landscape  painting  were 
gradually  overcome  by  means  of  fresh  and  varied 
experiments.  Pure  landscape  pictures  belong  to 
a  later  age,  but  in  the  quattrocento  backgrounds 
one  finds  a  keen  appreciation  of  the  beauties  of 
the  outdoor  world.  Fra  Filippo  loved  dark  groves 
and  little  mountain  brooks.  In  our  illustration, 
plate  4,  a  part  of  a  shady  garden  is  seen.  Peru- 
gino  and  Pinturicchio  loved  the  open  valleys 
and  far  distances  of  their  gentle  Umbria,  its 
slender  trees  and  winding  rivers  and  long  ranges 
of  hills  which  seem  to  stand  apart  in  order  that 
one  may  see  down  the  valley  to  its  farthest  end. 


ENTHUSIASMS  OF  QUATTROCENTO    71 


Pinturicchlo  often  closes  his  vista  with  a  blue 
sea  line.  One  of  Perugino's  landscapes,  very  like 
the  Tiber  valley  as  it  appears  near  Perugia,  is 
shown  in  plate  9.  He  often  chose  the  twilight 
hour  with  its  clear  afterglow,  when  the  slender 
trunks  of  his  little  trees  make  clear  cut  lines  in 
slightly  varied  and  rhythmic  repetition  against 
a  golden  sky  and  far  blue  hills,  (see  figure  4.) 


Figure  4. 

Perugino's  Fresco,  Sta.  Maria  Maddalena  deiPazzi,  Florence. 

The  landscape  backgrounds  of  Mantegna  and 
Giovanni  Bellini  in  their  pictures,  plates  10  and 
II,  show  an  interest  in  the  strange  and  unusual 
rather  than  in  the  ordinary  features  of  country. 
Both  pictures  represent  "Gethsemane, "  and 
there  is  a  general  similarity  between  the  designs. 
The  painters  were  brothers-in-law,  and  in  early 
life,  when  these  pictures  were  painted,  they  had 
a  marked  influence  upon  each  other.  It  is 
thought  that  each  took  the  first  idea  of  his  design 
from  a  sketch  by  Jacopo  Bellini,*  the  father  of 

*Kristeller,  "Andrea  Mantegna,"  p.  165. 


72       MASTERPIECES   OF  PAINTING 

Giovanni.  Both  have  represented  the  "Mount  of 
Olives "  as  a  bare  strange  cliff,  like  some  of  the 
queer  formations  in  remote  mountain  regions, 
instead  of  choosing  hillsides  planted  with  great 
olive  trees  so  common  in  nearly  all  parts  of  Italy. 
But  although  they  seem  to  be  doing  the  same  thing 
in  the  same  way,  and  possibly  they  thought  that 
they  were,  Mantegna  has  lavished  his  work  upon 
the  curious  rock  formations,  upon  the  architecture 
of  the  distant  city,  and  upon  foreshortening  of 
the  foreground  figures,  that  is,  upon  problems 
of  drawing,  and  Giovanni  Bellini  has  made  his 
picture  a  study  of  light  and  colour,  its  greatest 
beauty  being  the  rosy  glow  of  the  sunrise.  The 
soft  light  floods  the  country,  shines  rosy  pink 
upon  the  city  walls  and  streams  upon  the  figures 
of  the  Saviour  and  of  the  sleeping  apostles,  casting 
long  slanting  shadows.  Thus  each  painter  was 
coping  with  those  difficulties  which  most  inter- 
ested him,  insisting,  as  it  were,  upon  that  part  of 
the  world  of  sight  in  which  he  most  delighted. 
Their  later  works  show  how  each  won  distinction 
in  his  own  realm;  for  Mantegna  is  counted  among 
the  most  powerful  and  accurate  draughtsmen  of 
his  or  any  age,  and  Bellini  ranks  among  the  first 
of  the  great  Venetian  colourists.  This  independ- 
ence of  individual  painters  who  are  yet  alert  to 
all  that  is  best  in  the  work  of  their  comrades  and 
masters  is  a  marked  characteristic  of  the  quat- 
trocento. 

It  was  not  uncommon  at  this  time  for  an  artist 
to  be  skilled  in  various  branches  of  art,  but  even 
when  this  was  not  the  case  there  was  much 
practical  co-operation  between  architects,  sculp- 


M 

fi 

m^\,   W||-f 

HnK^lIF : 

^fW^'l  iifi  1  J? 

P» 

ENTHUSIASMS  OF  QUATTROCENTO    73 

tors,  and  painters,  and  the  painters,  through  this 
good  fellowship,  were  kept  in  touch  with  every 
changing  style.  This  is  clearly  shown  in  archi- 
tectural details  which  appear  in  the  paintings. 
One  can  trace  in  them  the  gradual  change  from 
Gothic  to  early  renaissance  architecture  at  the 
beginning  of  the  century,  and  the  transition  from 
the  early  to  the  high  renaissance  style  of  building 
as  the  century  drew  to  its  close.  The  materials 
used  in  building,  the  characteristic  decorations, 
festoons  of  fruit  and  flowers  carved  in  high  relief, 
medallions  in  low  relief,  and  niches  for  statues, 
are  reproduced  in  the  paintings  with  fullest  detail. 
In  all  these  matters  the  painters  learned  of  the 
architects  and  sculptors  and  immediately  found 
a  use  for  every  new  fashion.  A  recent  critic*  has 
shown  how  Fra  Angelico  in  his  Madonna  pictures 
designed  the  heavenly  throne  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
according  to  the  latest  ideas  in  architecture  as 
practiced  by  Michelozzo  Michelozzi  and  other 
architects  of  the  day.  Plate  5  shows  Crivelli's 
interest  in  the  coloured  marbles  so  largely  used 
in  renaissance  architecture,  and  the  loggia  in 
Perugino's  "Annunication, "  plate  9,  is  designed 
according  to  the  prevailing  fashion  of  his  time. 
The  correct  representation  of  buildings  was 
made  possible  by  a  better  understanding  of  the 
laws  of  linear  perspective  than  the  trecentisti 
had  attained.  The  difficulties  of  this  subject 
were  as  exciting  and  delightful  as  those  of  fore- 
shortening; a  long  arcade,  a  pergola,  the  facade 
of  a  palace,  or    the  vista  of  a  city  street  was  in- 

*Langton  Douglas,  "Fra  Angelico,"  Plate  29  (a  and  b),  pp. 
66-68. 


74      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

troduced  into  the  picture,  apparently  for  the 
pleasure  of  drawing  it.  Paolo  Uccello  was  even 
unduly  carried  away  by  the  fascination  of  these 
problems.  "He  laboured,  in  short,  so  earnestly 
in  these  difficult  matters,"  says  Vasari,  "that  he 
found  means  and  fixed  rules  for  making  his  figures 
really  seem  to  be  standing  on  the  plane  whereon 
they  were  placed;  not  only  showing  how,  in  order 
manifestly  to  draw  back  or  retire,  they  must 
gradually  be  diminished,  but  also  giving  the 
precise  manner  and  degree  required  for  this, 
which  had  previously  been  done  by  chance,  or 
effected  at  the  discretion  of  the  artist,  as  best  he 
could."*  And  Vasari  also  tells  that  Donatello 
reproved  this  excess  of  zeal:  "Ah,  Paolo,  with 
this  perspective  of  thine,  thou  art  leaving  the 
substance  for  the  shadow. " 

In  the  meantime  an  experiment  of  far  greater 
importance  was  being  tried  by  the  youthful 
Masaccio.  In  that  dark  little  chapel  which  he 
has  made  famous  he  was  studying  the  mystery  of 
light  and  shade,  or,  as  the  Italians  call  it,  "chiaros- 
curo. "  He  determined  the  relation  of  each  figure 
in  his  composition  to  the  imagined  source  of  light, 
and  he  made  the  light  fall  upon  the  figure  in  a 
way  to  throw  a  shadow  over  part  of  it  and  then 
beyond  it  so  that  it  seems  to  take  its  place  in 
space,  free  and  solid.  His  observation  of  the 
manner  in  which  details  are  lost  in  any  part  over 
which  a  shadow  falls  opened  the  way  to  a  broader 
style  of  painting.  Painters  were  quick  to  perceive 
the  superiority  of  Masaccio's  work,  but  it  took 
them   a   long  time  to   learn   his   secret.     In  its 

"Vasari,  Blashfield  Edition,  Vol.  I,  p.  178. 


ENTHUSIASMS  OF  QUATTROCENTO    75 

simplicity  and  freedom  from  complications  Masac- 
cio's  work  resembles  that  of  Giotto,  and  he  is 
also  like  Giotto  in  his  keen  observation  of  char- 
acteristic attitudes  and  gestures.  In  the  figures 
of  Adam  and  Eve  (plate  12),  fleeing  in  shame,  in 
sorrow,  in  despair,  he  seems  to  have  thought  how- 
such  emotions  might  be  betrayed  by  beings  who 
felt  them  for  the  first  time  and  had  never  learned 
through  experience  any  concealment  or  self- 
control.  The  esteem  of  painters  for  this  gifted 
boy  is  indicated  by  Vasari,  who  writes  thus  of  one 
of  the  other  frescoes  in  this  chapel: 

"In  the  picture  which  represents  St.  Peter 
administering  the  rite  of  baptism,  there  is  a 
figure  which  has  always  been  most  highly  celebrat- 
ed: it  is  that  of  a  naked  youth,  among  those  who 
are  baptized,  and  who  is  shivering  with  the  cold. 
This  is  in  all  respects  so  admirable  and  in  so  fine  a 
manner,  that  it  has  ever  since  been  held  in  rever- 
ence and  admiration  by  all  artists,  whether  of 
those  times  or  of  a  later  period.  This  chapel  has 
indeed  been  continually  frequented  by  an  infinite 
number  of  students  and  masters,  for  the  sake  of 
the  benefit  to  be  derived  from  these  works,  in 
which  there  are  still  some  heads  so  beautiful  and 
life-like,  that  we  may  safely  affirm  no  artist  of 
that  period  to  have  approached  so  nearly  to  the 
manner  of  the  moderns  as  did  Masaccio.  His 
works  do  indeed  merit  all  the  praise  they  have 
received,  and  the  rather  it  was  as  by  him  that  the 
path  was  opened  to  the  excellent  manner  prevalent 
in  our  own  times;  to  the  truth  of  which  we  have 
testimony  in  the  fact  that  all  the  most  celebrated 
sculptors  and  painters  since  Masaccio's  day  have 


76      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

become  excellent  and  illustrious  by  studying  their 
art  in  this  chapel.  "* 

One  may  best  understand  the  worth  of  Masac- 
cio's  discoveries  in  regard  to  chiaroscuro  and  the 
reason  for  his  great  influence  on  his  contemporaries 
and  successors  by  observing  in  nature  the  effects 
in  which  he  was  interested;  by  noting  for  example 
the  way  in  which  the  light  falling  strongly  from 
one  side  on  a  face  or  figure  throws  a  part  of  it  into 
shadow,  how  the  depth  of  the  shadow  is  deter- 
mined by  the  relation  of  the  object  to  the  source 
of  light,  and  how  the  form  of  the  shadow  is  deter- 
mined by  the  shape  of  the  object  which  casts  it 
and  the  shape  of  the  surfaces  on  which  it  falls. 
By  reproducing  on  a  flat  surface  the  true  form 
and  depth  of  shadows  the  painter  may  give  to 
his  figures  a  third  dimension  as  real  to  the  eye 
as  a  sculptor  could  make  upon  his  solid  block. 

Masaccio's  influence  was  like  some  seed  which 
requires  many  seasons  before  it  can  yield  its  fruit. 
It  grew  at  first  with  little  cultivation  because  the 
artists  were  so  fully  engrossed  in  other  exciting 
matters.  An  enthusiasm  shared  by  all  the  great 
masters  of  the  quattrocento  was  attainment  of 
skill  in  drawing,  and  especially  in  the  power  of 
truly  representing  the  effects  of  foreshortening. 
Far  from  evading  the  difficulties  of  this  problem, 
they  delighted  in  it.  They  posed  their  figures 
expressly  for  the  pleasure  of  coping  with  it. 

In  the  dome  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Apostles 

in  Rome  Melozzo  da  Forli  painted  a  figure  of 

Christ  ascending  toward  heaven,  drawing  it  as  it 

would  appear  if  seen  from  below.     This  figure 

*Vasari,  Blashfield  Edition,  Vol.  I,  p.  241. 


ENTHUSIASMS  OF  QUATTROCENTO    77 

excited  the  greatest  admiration  on  the  part  of  the 
artists.  Vasari,  more  than  a  century  later,  writes 
concerning  Melozzo's  foreshortening  that  this 
quality  is  "obviously  apparent  in  the  Ascension 
of  Jesus  Christ,  whose  figure  is  seen  in  the  midst 
of  a  choir  of  angels,  by  whom  he  is  borne  to  heaven. 
In  this  picture  the  figure  of  the  Saviour  is  so 
admirably  foreshortened,  that  it  seems  to  pierce 
the  vault,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  angels 
who  are  floating  in  various  attitudes  through  the 
fields  of  the  air.  The  apostles,  who  stand  on  the 
earth  beneath,  are  in  like  manner  foreshortened 
so  well,  in  the  different  attitudes  given  to  them, 
that  the  work  was  then,  and  continues  to  be, 
greatly  commended  by  artists,  who  have  learned 
much  from  the  labours  of  this  master."*  The 
accompanying  angels  with  instruments  of  music 
have  recently  become  well-known  and  have  a 
certain  popularity.  They  were  intended  to  be 
seen  from  below,  and  photographs  of  them  hung 
low  on  the  walls  of  rooms  present  a  strange  ap- 
pearance and  lead  one  to  wonder  whether  they 
signify  any  true  appreciation  of  what  was  in  the 
painter's  mind.  Indeed,  no  true  appreciation  of 
the  works  of  the  quattrocentisti  is  possible  to 
those  who  never  notice  in  nature  the  ever  curious 
and  interesting  effects  of  foreshortening.  The 
few  illustrations  here  given  show  how  each 
painter  worked  out  some  problem  of  this  kind. 

•Vasari,  Blashfield  Edition,  Vol.  II,  p.  112. 

See  Steinmann,  "Die  Sixtinische  Kapelle,"  Band  I,  p.  84, 
for  description  of  the  work. 

The  "Ascending  Christ"  is  now  in  the  Quirinal  Palace, 
and  the  angels  are  to  be  seen  in  the  Sacristy  of  St.  Peter's. 


78      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

By  way  of  experiment  one  might  study  the  head 
of  the  little  Christ-child  in  Botticelli's  picture, 
plate  13,  and  work  with  some  child  model  until  a 
similar  pose  is  found,  one  in  which  the  eyes  are 
upturned,  the  end  of  the  nose  uplifted  enough  to 
half  conceal  one  eye,  and  the  parting  of  the  lips 
marked  by  a  line  curving  strongly  downward  at 
the  corners  and  up  in  the  middle.  Even  students 
who  have  no  knowledge  of  drawing  may  make 
many  interesting  discoveries  during  the  course  of 
such  an  experiment  and  may  understand  better 
how  faithfully  Botticelli  observed  the  forms  of 
the  downcast  eye  of  the  mother  and  the  upraised 
eye  of  the  child.  The  heads  in  Signorelli's  fresco 
also  suggest  many  interesting  experiments  which 
may  be  tried  with  a  model. 

Pictorial  composition  at  this  period  is  a  sort 
of  compromise  between  the  formal,  decorative 
arrangements  of  the  trecento  designs  and  the 
informality  of  nature.  There  is  enough  of 
careful  planning  and  of  repetition  to  suggest  some 
of  the  more  elaborate  verse  forms  in  which  beauty 
of  structure  is  absolutely  necessary  though  it 
may  somewhat  modify  the  expression  of  deep 
feeling.  This  well-ordered  and  well-balanced 
composition  contributes  an  atmosphere  of  serenity 
and  repose  even  to  works  executed  by  artists  of 
ardent  and  excitable  temperament.  In  the  works 
of  Perugino  the  feeling  for  order  and  rhythm  is 
one  of  the  chief  beauties,  as  is  shown  in  plate  9 
and  in  figure  4;  in  the  works  of  Pinturicchio  and 
Filippino  Lippi  it  acts  as  a  wholesome  restraint. 

A  desire  for  perfection  in  design  and  in  execution 
often  led   the  painter  to  repeat  some  favorite 


ENTHUSIASMS  OF  QUATTROCENTO    79 

subject,  each  time  solving  the  difficulties  of  his 
theme  in  a  new  way.  Fra  Angelico,  for  example, 
painted  the  Annunciation  many  times;  in  every 
case  he  altered  slightly  the  pose  of  the  angel  and 
of  the  Virgin,  always  trying  to  give  to  Gabriel 
more  splendid  attire,  more  haste,  more  reverence, 
and  to  Mary  more  wonder,  more  surprise,  more 
humility.  Mantegna  has  a  number  of  little  pic- 
tures of  the  Madonna  in  which  he  has  represented 
the  baby  Christ  as  just   falling  asleep,  a  theme 


b. 


Figure  5. 
Studies  of  Infant  Sleep.    Mantegna. 
Madonna  and  Child,  Carrara  Gallery,  Bergamo. 
Madonna  and  Child,  Poldi-Pezzoli  Gallery,  Milan. 
Madonna  and  Child,  Kaiser-Friedrich  Museum,  Berlin. 


which  he  seems  to  have  studied  repeatedly  from 
life  (see  figure  5). 

The  inventive  powers  of  any  one  of  these 
painters  never  seemed  to  falter,  his  imagination 
never  wearied.  He  designed  rich  brocades  for 
robes,  and  patterns  in  gold  and  jewels  for  the 
borders,  embossed  armour  and  weapons,  angels' 
wings  and  crowns,  everything,  in  fact,  which 
could  give  splendor  to  the  apparel  of  men  and  of 
angels.  No  information  came  amiss  to  him.  He 
shared  with  the   learned   men  of  the  time   an 


80      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

enthusiasm  for  ancient  works  of  art  and  of  litera- 
ture, and  though  for  the  most  part  Christian  sub- 
jects only  were  demanded  of  him,  he  introduced, 
wherever  he  could  find  room,  triumphal  arches, 
picturesque  ruins,  broken  statues,  and  trophies 
made  up  of  ancient  armour  and  weapons.  He 
made  a  place  for  books  and  manuscripts  and 
found  chance  to  show  his  knowledge  of  classic 
stories  and  myths.  The  newer  fields  of  knowledge 
too  furnished  a  harvest  for  his  imagination.  For 
the  flora  and  fauna  of  far  regions,  for  foreign 
costumes  and  imported  treasures,  for  all  pictur- 
esque suggestions,  in  fact,  brought  before  him  by 
scholar,  scientist,  or  adventurer,  the  painter 
found  a  use. 

The  influence  of  the  increased  interest  in  ancient 
classic  art  is  shown  in  the  attention  given  to  the 
study  of  the  nude.  This  is  seen  in  Masaccio's 
Adam  and  Eve  and  in  the  noble  torso  of  the  Christ 
in  Piero  della  Francesca's  great  fresco  of  the 
"Resurrection."  This  interest  is  illustrated  in 
the  work  of  Fra  Angelico  in  the  fine  drawing  of 
the  Christ  in  his  great  fresco  of  the  "Crucifixion" 
at  San  Marco  and  also  in  the  delicate  modelling 
of  the  body  of  the  little  Christ-child  in  some  of  his 
Madonna  pictures,  as  in  the  "Madonna  and 
Saints"  in  the  Perugia  Gallery.  But  deepest, 
perhaps,  of  all  the  enthusiasms  of  the  quattrocento 
painters  was  the  enthusiasm  for  humanity,  for 
beauty,  character  and  individuality,  revealed 
through  form  and  action.  In  this  study  of 
human  nature  each  painter,  with  childlike  frank- 
ness, opened  his  heart  to  all  the  world,  and  thus 
has  drawn  to  himself  the  sympathy  of  all  hearts 


Plate  12.     Masaccio:  Adam  and  Eve. 


Plate  13.     Botticelli:  Madonna  and  Child. 


ENTHUSIASMS  OF  QUATTROCENTO     81 

in  all  ages.  Each  had  his  own  ideal  of  pretty 
babyhood,  each  his  own  type  of  feminine  beauty, 
each  his  own  choice  among  quaint  characteristic 
types.  It  is  most  interesting  to  trace  these  per- 
sonal tastes  of  the  painter  seen  through  the  trans- 
parent influence  of  master  upon  pupil,  as  shown, 
for  instance,  in  the  relation  of  Benozzo  Gozzoli 
to  Fra  Angelico,  or  the  relation  of  Botticelli  to  Fra 
Filippo  Lippi,  his  master,  and  to  Filippino  Lippi, 
his  pupil.  Each  painter  seemed  to  have  also  a 
few  pet  hobbies  of  his  own;  thus  Crivelli  finds 
place  for  his  cucumber,  Signorelli  for  a  bright 
striped  scarf,  Botticelli  for  a  thin  fluttering  veil. 
Some  of  the  resemblances  and  some  of  the 
differences  between  the  art  of  Italy  and  that  of 
Flanders  in  the  fifteenth  century  is  shown  in 
plate  6,  the  "Adoration  of  the  Shepherds,"  by 
Hugo  van  der  Goes,  now  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery, 
Florence.  The  group  of  shepherds  is  peculiarly 
interesting  for  its  frank  realism  and  keen  apprecia- 
tion of  the  lofty  sentiments  of  reverence,  wonder, 
and  devotion  written  on  rude  weather-beaten 
faces.  Much  of  the  colouring  is  very  rich, 
especially  the  gorgeous  costumes  of  the  two  groups 
of  angels  in  the  foreground.  Of  the  two  angels  at 
the  left  (of  the  observer)  the  nearer  one  wears  a 
pale  blue  robe  and  spreads  out  great  wings  com- 
posed of  feathers  like  those  which  form  the  tail 
of  a  white  peacock.  The  other  wears  pale  lilac, 
with  green  wings,  and  both  have  light  golden 
hair.  The  five  angels  in  the  right-hand  group  are 
clad  in  splendid  brocaded  copes;  the  nearest  one 
has  wings  of  peacock  pattern  with  much  blue, 
the  second  wings  of  scarlet  and  green,  and  all  have 


82      MASTERPIECES   OF  PAINTING 

darker    hair.     The    two    delicate    little    angels 
behind  the  Virgin  have  long  robes  of  pale  cobalt 
blue  and  wings  of  the  same  colour.     Other  angels 
with  slender  wings  and  long  robes  which  trail  and 
twist  about  their  feet  are  floating  among  the  raft- 
ers, gazing  down  upon  the  Infant  Christ.     These 
varied  groups  or  flocks  of  angels  seem  as  unrelated 
as  birds  of  different  plumage.     Their  remoteness 
from  mortals  is  emphasized  by  the  difference  in 
size,  the  angels  being  drawn  on  a  smaller  scale. 
Nor  are  shepherds  and  angels  the  only  objects  of 
curiosity.     The  attention  wanders   on  from  the 
tiny  infant  on  the  bare  pavement  to  the  beasts  in 
their  rude  shelter,  to  the  fine  old  ruined  building 
behind  it  and  thence  along  the  path  to  the  gate 
where  two  women  are  standing  and  beyond  to  the 
far  hilltop  where  the  angel  appears.     The  illustra- 
tion gives  the  middle  panel  only  of  this  altarpiece 
which  is  a  triptych.     On  the  wings  the  donors  are 
represented  kneeling,  and  behind  them  stand  their 
patron  saints.     The  portraits  reveal  keen  obser- 
vation of  character  and  costume.     A     curious 
effect  of  unreality  is  again  given  by  the  scale  of 
the  figures,   the  patron   saints  being  of  greater 
size  than  the  donors  who  are  kneeling  in  front  of 
them.     The  background  shows  a  dreary  country 
with  leafless  trees,  suggestive  of  northern  winter. 
In  the  background  of  the  left  panel  or  wing  is 
a  bit  of  rough  road  where  Joseph  is  seen  helping 
Mary  on  the  way  to  Bethlehem;  on  the  right  wing 
is  a  winding  road  among  the  hills,  along  which  the 
Magi  are  approaching  with  their  servants,  horses, 
and  camels.    Some  peasants,  miserably  poor,  have 
come  out  of  their  huts  wondering  at  the   sight, 


ENTHUSIASMS  OF  QUATTROCENTO    83 

and  a  fine  servant  who  has  ridden  on  before  dis- 
mounts to  ask  the  way  of  a  wretched  cripple. 
Thus  the  artist  has  shown  a  sympathetic  interest 
in  the  feelings  of  the  lowly  and  ignorant,  though 
sharing  the  taste  of  his  age  and  country  for 
splendid  raiment.  (See  chapter  iv).  He  has 
lavished  his  time  and  skill  upon  the  brocades,  furs, 
velvets,  and  jewels  of  the  donors  and  their  patrons, 
as  also  on  the  skinny  hands  of  the  shepherds  and 
upon  their  rough  garments.  The  whole  work 
well  illustrates  the  comment  on  Flemish  painting 
which  Michelangelo  is  said  to  have  made  to 
Vittoria  Colonna  :*  "  They  paint  in  Flanders  only 
to  deceive  the  external  eye,  things  that  gladden 
you  and  of  which  you  cannot  speak  ill,  and  saints 
and  prophets.  Their  painting  is  of  stuffs,  bricks 
and  mortar,  the  grass  of  the  fields,  the  shadows  of 
trees,  and  bridges  and  rivers,  which  they  call 
landscapes,  and  little  figures  here  and  there." 
This  he  condemns  because  it  is  done  "without 
reasonableness  or  art,  without  symmetry  or  pro- 
portion, without  care  in  selecting  or  rejecting," 
and  because  "it  tries  to  do  so  many  things  at 
once  (each  of  which  would  alone  suffice  for  a  great 
work)  so  that  it  does  not  do  anything  really  well. " 

*Holroyd,  "Michael  Angelo  Buonarrotti,"  p.  279. 
Quoted  also  by  Mary  H.  Witt  in  "German  and  Flemish 
Masters  in  the  National  Gallery,"  p.  112. 


CHAPTER  VII 

The  Golden  Age 

THE  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century 
(cinquecento)  is  called,  in  reference  to  its 
artistic  achievement  in  Italy,  the  "High  Renais- 
sance," the  "Midsummer  of  Art,"  the  "Golden 
Age."  These  expressions  indicate  a  well-recog- 
nized difference  between  the  art  of  this  period 
and  that  of  the  preceding  era;  maturity  instead 
of  youthfulness,  attainment  in  place  of  quest, 
triumph  in  place  of  struggle.  Youthful  self- 
confidence  and  ambition  gave  place  to  conscious 
authority,  investigation  and  experiment  to  as- 
sured knowledge  and  power. 

The  greatest  triumphs  of  the  century  belong 
to  its  very  beginning.  The  superb  designs  of 
Leonardo  and  Michelangelo  for  the  Great  Hall  of 
the  Palazzo  Vecchio  in  Florence,  the  frescoes  of 
Michelangelo  on  the  vaulting  of  the  Sistine 
Chapel,  Raphael's  great  series  of  frescoes  in  the 
Stanze  of  the  Vatican,  all  the  work  of  Giorgione 
and  the  earlier  masterpieces  of  Titian,  belong  to 
the  first  fifteen  years  of  the  century,  and  Leon- 
ardo's "Last  Supper"  was  completed  just  before 
its  beginning.  The  excitement  created  by  these 
splendid<examples  of  the  possibilities  of  painting 
spread  like  a  contagion  over  Italy  and  then  over 

84 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  85 

all  Europe.  Perugino  and  Signorelli,  who  died  in 
1523,  knew  that  in  their  last  years  they  were  con- 
sidered old-fashioned. 

Perugino's  wonderful  pupil,  Raphael,  the 
darling  of  fortune,  had,  when  hardly  more  than 
a  boy,  assimilated  all  that  was  best  in  the  work  of 
his  master;  the  feeling  for  boundless  space  and 
for  gentle,  saintly  beauty,  the  ability  to  invent 
wide  reaches  of  country  set  with  mountains, 
streams,  and  trees  more  orderly  and  serene  than 
nature  ever  designs,  and  peopled  with  graceful, 
tender  beings  of  an  unearthly  loveliness.  He  was 
still  young  enough  to  respond  to  all  the  new 
influences,  and  his  imagination  was  stirred  by  the 
great  works  about  him  until  his  own  turn  came  to 
have  a  hand  in  them,  to  be  a  part  of  the  greatness. 
He  was  sensitive  to  every  impression  and  "  never, " 
as  La  Farge  says  of  him,  "does  he  seem  more 
original  than  in  the  ideas  that  he  borrows.  "*  His 
whole  brief  and  brilliant  career  falls  within  the 
"Golden  Age." 

Around  the  great  designs  of  Michelangelo  and 
Leonardo  for  the  Palazzo  Vecchio  thronged  all 
the  ambitious  young  painters  of  Florence.  The 
admiration  which  these  works  excited  and  their 
influence  on  the  painters  of  the  next  generation,  is 
revealed  in  Vasari's  description  of  the  cartoon  of 
Michelangelo,  "The  Battle  of  Pisa."  "This 
work,"  he  says,  "exhibited  a  vast  number  of 
nude  figures  bathing  in  the  river  Arno,  as  men  do 
in  hot  days,  and  at  this  moment  the  enemy  is 
heard  to  be  attacking  the  Camp.  The  soldiers 
who  were  bathing  spring  forth  in  haste  to  seize 

*La  Farge,  "Great  Masters,"  p.  77. 


86      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

their  arms,  which  many  are  portrayed  by  the 
divine  hand  of  Michelagnolo  as  hurriedly  doing. 
Some  are  affixing  their  cuirasses  or  other  portions 
of  their  armour  while  others  are  already  mounted 
and  commencing  the  battle  on  horseback. 

"Among  the  figures  in  this  work  is  that  of  an 
old  man  who,  to  shelter  himself  from  the  heat, 
has  wreathed  a  garland  of  ivy  round  his  head,  and, 
seated  on  the  earth,  is  labouring  to  draw  on  his 
stockings,  but  is  impeded  by  the  humidity  of  his 
limbs.  Hearing  the  sound  of  the  drums  and  the 
cries  of  the  soldiers  he  is  struggling  violently  to 
get  one  of  the  stockings  on,  the  action  of  the 
muscles  and  the  distortion  of  the  mouth  evince 
the  zeal  of  his  efforts  and  prove  him  to  be  toiling 
all  over,  even  to  the  points  of  his  feet.  "*  Vasari's 
enthusiasm  over  this  powerful  drawing,  its  life 
and  vigour,  the  "singular  attitudes"  and  "diffi- 
cult foreshortenings,"  was  shared  by  his  fellow 
artists.  "And  of  a  truth  the  artists  were  struck 
with  amazement,  perceiving,  as  they  did,  that 
the  master  had  in  that  cartoon  laid  open  to 
them  the  very  highest  resources  of  art;  nay,  there 
are  some  who  still  declare  that  they  have  never 
seen  anything  equal  to  that  work,  either  from  his 
hand  or  from  that  of  any  other,  and  they  do  not 
believe  that  the  genius  of  any  other  man  will  ever 
attain  to  such  perfection."  Vasari  closes  his 
description  of  the  cartoon  with  a  list  of  the  artists 
who  have  designed  from  it  and  copied  it. 

This  work,  begun  in  1504,  was  left  unfinished. 
A  few  years  later  the  world  stood  in  astonishment 
and   wonder   under   the   great   vaulting   of   the 

*Vasari,  Blashfield  Edition,  Vol.  IV,  p.  65. 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  87 

Sistine  Chapel  in  the  Vatican.  In  the  neighbor- 
ing halls  of  the  palace  the  great  works  of  Raphael 
immediately  betrayed  the  influence  of  this 
mightier  master,  whose  irresistible  power  so 
overshadowed  the  lesser  men  of  the  succeeding 
age,  that  Vasari  could  write  concerning  these 
frescoes:  "Of  a  truth,  this  Chapel,  as  thus  painted 
by  his  hand,  has  been  and  is  the  very  light  of  our 
art  and  has  done  so  much  for  the  progress  thereof, 
that  it  has  sufficed  to  illumine  the  world,  which 
had  lain  in  darkness  for  so  many  hundreds  of 
years.  Nay,  no  man  who  is  a  painter  now  cares  to 
seek  new  inventions,  attitudes,  draperies,  original- 
ity and  force  of  expression,  or  variety  in  the  modes 
of  representation,  seeing  that  all  the  perfection 
which  can  be  given  to  each  of  these  requisites  in  a 
work  of  this  character  by  the  highest  powers  of 
art  are  presented  to  him  here,  and  have  been 
imparted  to  this  work  by  Michelagnolo.  "* 

Some  of  the  qualities  of  Michelangelo's  draughts- 
manship which  so  aroused  the  admiration  of  his 
contemporaries  and  followers  are  shown  in  plate 
14,  a  detail  from  the  Sistine  Vaulting,  "The 
Creation  of  Adam."  The  subject  is  represented 
on  a  space  of  oblong  shape  more  than  twice  as 
long  as  it  is  wide.  The  principal  masses  of  the 
composition,  light  against  dark  and  dark  against 
light,  cross  this  space  in  long  slanting  lilies  and 
curves.  One  of  these  long  lines  is  given  by  the 
slope  of  a  barren  hillside,  cold  green  and  blue  in 
colour,  on  which  Adam  reclines,  just  drawing  up 
his  strong  limbs  and  opening  his  dreamy  eyes  at 
the  first  thrill  of  life.     The  pose  and  the  propor- 

*  Vasari,  Blashfield  Edition,  Vol.  IV,  p.  93. 


88      MASTERPIECES   OF  PAINTING 

tions  of  this  figure  show  characteristics  often 
repeated  in  the  works  of  the  master;  the  head 
much  turned  and  inclined,  the  shoulder  forced 
backward,  the  forearm  greatly  foreshortened, 
one  knee  stretched  out  and  the  other  strongly  bent. 
In  his  paintings  as  in  his  carvings  Michelangelo 
showed  a  sculptor's  preference  for  poses  which 
throw  corresponding  parts  of  the  body  into 
dissimilar  shapes,  thus  giving  the  artist  a  chance 
to  suggest  perfect  symmetry  in  forms  varied  and 
even  almost  distorted  by  violent  effort.  He  had 
studied  these  problems  from  boyhood,  and  so 
close  and  familiar  was  his  knowledge  of  the  bony 
and  muscular  structure  of  the  body  and  of  all 
its  possible  actions  that  he  dared  at  times  to  take 
strange  liberties  with  it  and  to  create  marvels  at 
which,  as  the  words  of  Vasari  show,  accomplished 
artists  stood  aghast.  It  is  therefore  peculiarly 
difficult  for  those  who  have  never  studied  form 
and  action  to  understand  his  realm  of  thought  and 
to  share  his  enthusiasm.  The  effort  is  like  trying 
to  understand  some  great  poem  in  an  unknown 
tongue.  Let  us  make  the  simplest  beginning. 
Sit  down  before  a  mirror  and  study  your  own 
hands  and  wrists.  Notice  the  symmetry  of  the 
hands  and  the  character  which  they  reveal;  how 
they  indicate  age,  degree  of  health,  and  habitual 
occupations.  Notice  the  flowing  curves  which 
from  every  point  of  view  mark  the  joining  of 
hand  to  wrist,  how  these  curves  are  overlapped, 
how  each  is  formed  by  something  under  the  skin, 
how  each  indicates  some  part  of  the  fine  structure 
and  is  not  a  meaningless  crook.  Contemplate  the 
hand  and  forearm  in  all  sorts  of  foreshortened 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  89 

positions.  Go  through  a  series  of  exercises,  grasp- 
ing, pulling,  and  clenching,  and  notice  how  each 
action  changes  the  shape  and  the  relation  of  the 
different  parts;  notice  how  the  bones,  the  veins, 
and  the  cords  lift  up  the  skin  in  different  ways  and 
how  the  skin  is  smooth  and  shining  where  tightly 
drawn  over  the  bony  parts.  It  is  such  variations 
and  modifications  of  form  that  a  sculptor  loves  to 
study  and  to  use  significantly.  Michelangelo 
when  working  in  marble  sometimes  left  a  part  of 
the  figure  quite  buried  in  the  stone  and  yet  pol- 
ished a  bent  knee  to  give  the  look  of  the  tightly- 
drawn  skin.  The  pendent  hand  of  his  young 
David,  with  filled  and  swollen  veins,  differs  from 
the  one  that  is  raised.  In  the  outstretched  hand 
of  Adam  in  this  illustration,  trace  the  long  curve 
and  twist  which  shows  how  the  hand  is  turned  at 
the  wrist  and  the  bones  of  the  forearm  are  crossed. 
By  fixing  the  attention  for  a  short  time  on  such 
details  of  the  body,  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully 
made,  one  begins  to  see  with  an  artist's  eye  the 
relations  between  form  and  action  as  exhibited  in 
daily  life.  A  labourer,  for  instance,  casts  his 
coat  aside  and  throws  his  shirt  open  because  at 
every  exertion  of  his  splendid  strength  his  body 
takes  a  different  form;  his  powerful  hands  take 
on  a  thousand  shapes  before  his  task  is  done. 

This  figure  of  Adam,  though  in  repose,  suggests 
life  and  action.  The  lithe  limbs,  massive  shoulders, 
strong  neck,  and  small  head  are  slight  exaggera- 
tions of  proportion  which  give  an  impression  of 
abounding  life  and  vigour  such  as  more  classic 
forms  could  never  convey.     A  recent  writer  has 


9o      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

thus  interpreted  in  words  which  lose  too  much  in 
translation,  the  artist's  thought  in  this  work: 

"Das  Urbild  des  Menschen  und  das  Ebenbild 
Gottes!  Man  fiihlt,  dass  Michelangelo  dies 
Ideal  vor  Augen  hatte,  als  er  an  die  Bildung 
Adams  herantrat.  Nichts  individuelles,  nichts 
zufalliges  sollte  man  an  diesem  gottgeschaffenen 
Menschenbilde  sehen;  eine  allgemeingiiltige, 
ewige  Form  wollte  er  schaffen  fur  den  endlichen 
Menschen.  Und  diese  Form  sollte  vollkommen 
sein  in  alien  ihren  Teilen  wie  der  Doryphoros 
des  Polyklet  und  wie  dieser  ein  Kanon  der  Pro- 
portionen  des  menschlichen  Korpers."* 

The  touch  of  the  Creator  calls  Adam  to  life  and 
the  outstretched  hands  of  man  and  his  Maker 
which  thus  form  the  center  of  the  composition 
suggest  the  wondrous  thrill  of  that  awakening. 
The  Almighty  Father  seems  to  poise  in  the  air  as 
he  sweeps  through  the  sky  accompanied  by  a 
throng  of  spirit  shapes  all  enveloped  by  the  wind- 
filled  folds  of  his  floating  purple  mantle.  His 
body,  which  is  clad  in  a  garment  of  pearly  gray, 
seems  to  have  the  proportions  and  vigour  of  man- 
hood, his  white  hair  and  beard  suggest  the  wisdom 
of  age,  his  act  and  his  expression  imply  help  and 
sympathy.  Thus  the  artist  has  found  a  way  to 
express  all  that  can  be  shown  in  mortal  shape  of 
infinite  power,  wisdom,  and  love. 

Must  not  the  artist  for  a  conception  of  the 
Creating  God,  have  had  in  mind  the  language  of 
the  Psalmist: 

*Steinmann,  "Die  Sixtinische  Kapelle,"  Band  II,  p.  326. 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  91 

"He  bowed  the  heavens  also  and  came  down; 
and  darkness  was  under  his  feet. 

"And  he  rode  upon  a  cherub  and  did  fly:  yea, 
he  was  seen  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind. 

"He  made  darkness  his  secret  place;  his  pavilion 
round  about  him  were  dark  waters  and  thick 
clouds  of  the  skies. "     (Ps.  xviii,  9,  10,  II.) 

The  sweep,  the  rhythm,  the  mystery,  of  this 
impressive  language  is  mightily  felt  in  the  paint- 
ing, a  noble  illustration  of  the  words  of  Leonardo: 
"Painting  is  poetry  which  is  seen  and  not  heard; 
poetry  is  painting  which  is  heard  and  not  seen."* 

In  all  these  great  designs  of  Michelangelo 
humanity  is  treated  with  solemn  dignity  and 
grandeur.  A  symbolic  view  of  human  life  is 
given,  its  origin,  its  tragedy,  its  mystery,  and  in 
the  "Last  Judgment,"  its  destiny,  as  seen  from 
some  far  region,  remote  from  all  trivial  details  of 
daily  life.  Of  the  strange  beings  which  fill  every 
part  of  this  vast  composition  Symonds  says:  "I 
sometimes  dream  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
moon  may  be  like  Michelangelo's  men  and  women, 
as  I  feel  its  landscape  resembles  his  conception  of 
the  material  universe,  "f 

The  colour  scheme  of  the  frescoes  has  the  cold 
and  quiet  harmony  of  the  woods  in  November. 
There  is  much  gray,  some  of  it  cold  and  sullen 
like  leaden  skies,  some  silvery  and  pearly  like 
floating  clouds,  some  bordering  on  purple  and 
lilac,  like  the  misty  colour  of  leafless  bushes. 
The  tints  of  tawny  and  coppery  browns,  bronze 
greens,  cold  blue  and  dull  red  and  purple  suggest 

*Muntz,  "Leonardo  da  Vinci,"  I,  p.  232. 
fSymonds,  "Life  of  Michelangelo,"  Vol.  I,  p.  279. 


92      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

the  fallen  leaves.  The  brighter  colours  are  more 
scattered  and  in  smaller  patches  like  the  last 
traces  of  October's  departed  glory,  bits  of  bright 
scarlet  and  crimson,  yellow  and  orange  and  green, 
with  larger  expanses  of  deep  blue  like  the  sky 
seen  through  torn  clouds.  Michelangelo  resem- 
bled Giotto  in  his  way  of  placing  all  the  accent 
and  interest  on  the  figures,  leaving  the  setting 
so  gray  and  cheerless,  so  "arid."  Other  masters 
of  the  "golden  age"  discovered  that  the  earth 
itself  was  full  of  beauty  and  meaning,  as  divine 
a  creation  as  the  struggling  human  soul  in  its 
prison,  the  body.  In  their  masterpieces  figures 
and  background  are  closely  united  and  composi- 
tion, colour,  and  sentiment  are  strengthened  by 
the  essential  relation  and  fine  harmony  between 
the  figures  and  the  landscape  in  which  they  are 
set. 

This  kind  of  harmony  is  illustrated  in  plate  15, 
Titian's  "Entombment"  (Louvre,  Paris).  The 
composition  is  made  by  contrasting  masses  of 
light  and  dark,  the  colour  scheme  being  very  rich 
and  harmonious.  The  last  rays  of  the  setting  sun 
falling  aslant  from  the  left,  accent  strongly  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  composition,  leaving  others  in 
the  shadow  of  twilight.  The  light  falls  brightly 
upon  the  back  of  the  figure  at  the  right,  Joseph  of 
Arimathea,  and  his  bending  form  casts  a  strong 
shadow  across  the  body  of  the  dead  Christ, 
enveloping  all  the  upper  part  of  it.  The  lower 
part  of  the  figure  of  Christ  and  the  great  white 
winding-sheet  on  which  it  lies  form  the  principal 
light  and  accent,  and  mark  the  center  of  interest. 
The  strongest  echo  of  this  chief  light  is  the  glowing 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  93 

sky  against  which  the  head  of  St.  John  shows 
darkly.  These  and  other  bright  touches  are  set 
against  great  masses  of  dark,  the  rich  robes  of 
Nicodemus  and  John  behind  the  body  of  Christ, 
and  the  shadowy  garden  at  the  right,  where  the 
open  door  of  the  sepulchre  shows  dimly  among 
the  trees.  In  black  and  white  these  contrasting 
lights  and  darks  give  a  patchwork  look  untrue  to 
the  painting.  On  the  canvas  the  whites,  the  flesh 
tones,  the  colours  of  the  costumes,  purple,  red, 
deep  blue  and  yellow,  the  floating  masses  of 
auburn  hair,  the  glowing  sky  and  the  gloomy 
garden,  are  all  enveloped  in  a  golden  tone,  through 
which  they  shine  with  a  richness  and  harmony 
words  fail  to  express. 

In  many  works  of  Titian,  landscape  forms  a 
more  important  part  of  the  composition  than  in 
this  work.  The  landscape  is  more  than  a  back- 
ground; in  mood  and  in  colour  it  harmonizes  with 
the  subject  and  enhances  it.  Mountains,  clouds, 
and  trees  repeat  the  colour  and  the  sentiment  of 
the  foreground  group,  and  contribute  to  its  splen- 
dor and  significance.  He  painted  because  he 
loved  the  blue  mountains,  the  dark  forests,  the 
cloudy  skies,  torn  mists  and  sudden  storms, 
characteristic  of  his  early  mountain  home.* 

Two  characteristics  observed  in  this  "Entomb- 
ment" appear  in  a  more  marked  degree  in  Titian's 
later  works,  the  intense  dramatic  feeling  of  some 
of  the  figures  and  the  strongly  marked  individual 
traits.  The  interest  in  intense  feeling  and  gesture 
sometimes  showed  itself  later  in  exaggeration  and 

*See  Josiah  Gilbert,  "Cadore  or  Titian's  Country,"  and 
Gronau,  "Titian." 


94      MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

violence,  as  if  he  studied  the  actions  of  those  whose 
emotions  were  wholly  uncontrolled.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  interest  in  individuality  and  personality 
rendered  Titian  one  of  the  finest  of  portrait  paint- 
ers when  he  applied  his  superb  technique  to  such 
subjects.  Of  one  of  his  masterpieces  of  portrai- 
ture, the  red-haired,  blue-eyed  man  in  the  Pitti 
Gallery,  Gronau  says:  "This  portrait  justifies 
Aretino's  remark  made  about  another  portrait  by 
Titian,  that  of  the  Spanish  Ambassador  Gonzalo 
Perez:  'your  likeness  will  annihilate  the  claims 
Death  believes  it  has  upon  you.'  "* 

Another  example  of  unity,  affecting  not  only 
the  figures  grouped  in  the  foreground,  but  also  the 
relation  between  this  group  and  the  background, 
is  shown  in  Andrea  del  Sarto's  "Pieta,"  plate  16. 
The  subject,  the  arrangement,  the  chiaroscuro 
and  the  colour  are  here  so  studied  as  to  seem  un- 
studied, and  although  the  days  of  formal  com- 
position are  over,  the  taste  for  order  and  balance 
still  remains.  Confused  and  overburdened  com- 
positions belong  to  a  later  period. 

It  was  his  fellow  artists  who  gave  to  Del  Sarto 
the  nickname,  "the  Faultless"  (Andrea  senza 
errori),  and  the  title  implies,  I  think,  their  admira- 
tion of  this  quality  in  his  work;  it  certainly  refers 
to  no  devotion  on  his  part  to  minute  accuracy. 
To  see  things  largely  and  in  their  true  relations 
and  to  choose  with  unerring  good  taste,  this  was 
his  faultlessness. 

In  this  work  the  colour  scheme  is  based  on  a 
harmonious  union  of  many  bright  tints,  reminding 
one  of  some  old-fashioned  flower  garden  where 

*Gronau,  "Titian,"  p.  102. 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  95 

white  and  blue,  pink,  orange,  scarlet,  crimson, 
lilac,  and  purple  cluster  together  against  brown 
earth  and  green  foliage  under  soft  gray  skies  on 
some  overcast  day  or  at  some  twilight  hour  which 
fittingly  subdues  the  bright  array.  These  softened 
colours  are  often  seen  in  groups  of  women  and 
children  gathered  in  the  open  squares  of  Italian 
towns,  for  the  gay  cottons  and  woolens  used  in 
feminine  attire  lose  after  much  service  their  gaudy 
hues  and  acquire  more  chastened  tints  through 
occasional  washings  in  brook  or  fountain.  The 
whole  picture  has  a  pale  golden  tone. 

The  mountains  and  the  sky  are  of  a  cold  green- 
ish blue,  the  cloud  is  paler  gray,  the  nearer  hills 
and  the  foreground  earth  are  of  a  golden  brown. 
St.  Peter  is  clad  in  a  great  mantle  of  orange-gold, 
St.  Paul  in  a  sort  of  faded  lilac  and  red,  St.  John 
in  strawberry  colour  over  green.  The  Mother 
Mary's  crimson  gown  is  partly  hidden  under  the 
pearly  gray  mantle  drawn  over  her  head,  the  dress 
of  the  Magdalen  is  pink,  her  mantle  grayish-green, 
heavy  masses  of  reddish  hair  fall  about  her  face 
and  shoulders.  The  other  Mary  wears  a  costume 
of  green,  blue,  and  creamy  white.  All  these  bright 
tints  are  grouped  about  the  delicate  tones  which 
mark  the  center  of  the  composition,  the  body  of 
the  dead  Christ.  The  highest  light  falls  upon  the 
lower  part  of  the  body  of  a  warm  ivory  hue,  against 
a  cream  white  winding-sheet  and  pale  blue  loin 
cloth.  It  is  of  course  extremely  difficult  to  con- 
vey a  true  colour  impression,  but  these  hints  may 
aid  the  imagination  of  the  student. 

With  the  exception  of  the  somewhat  intrusive 
figure  of  St.  Paul  the  group  of  mourners  is  sunk 


96      MASTERPIECES  OF   PAINTING 

in  that  heart-broken  sorrow  which  is  beyond  words 
or  outcries,  the  hush  of  deepest  grief.  The  Mag- 
dalen bows  her  head  with  a  girlish  gesture,  simple 
and  sincere.  Andrea,  with  finer  feeling  than 
other  painters,  notably  some  of  the  late  Italians, 
who  loved  to  portray  sorrow  on  a  pretty  youth- 
ful face  with  large  upturned  eyes  and  great  pearly 
tear-drops  undried  upon  the  cheeks,  has  given  to 
this  drooping  face  just  a  touch  of  the  quivering 
look  that  follows  long  weeping.  The  Mother 
bends  in  pitying  love  over  the  tortured  hand  held 
so  tenderly  within  her  own.  A  drawing  of  the 
hands  of  Mother  and  Son  in  the  Louvre  shows 
how  faithfully  the  artist  worked  out  his  thought 
for  this  detail.  With  reverent  touch  the  painter 
has  left  the  face  of  Christ  enveloped  in  deepest 
shadow. 

These  examples  with  the  lovely  "Shepherd 
Boy"  of  Giorgione,  plate  7,  are  of  course  wholly 
insufficient  to  illustrate  the  art  of  painting  in  the 
marvellous  epoch  to  which  they  belong.  It  was  a 
time  of  revelation.  "The  wizard  of  the  renais- 
sance," as  Symonds  calls  Leonardo,  played  with 
the  beauty  and  mystery  of  shadows  and  the  vague 
allurement  of  atmospheric  distances,  and  in  like 
manner  each  great  master  of  the  "golden  age" 
created  his  own  ideals,  chose  his  own  methods, 
his  own  types.  Each  like  a  sun  shone  by  his  own 
light  and  moved  attended  by  a  train  of  satellites. 
No  general  characterization  can  apply  to  them 
all,  they  can  hardly  be  subjected  to  grouping  and 
classification,  and  one  hesitates  to  belittle  their 
glory  by  any  hasty  and  inadequate  word  of  praise. 
It  is  rather  the  purpose  of  this  brief  study  to  point 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  97 

out  that  in  order  to  understand  any  one  of  these 
masters  it  is  important  to  notice  in  his  works 
what  he  seemed  most  to  love  and  to  strive  for. 
He  knew  or  at  least  he  felt  what  he  most  wished 
to  do,  and  therefore  he  repeated  again  and  again, 
with  some  revision,  some  new  adaptation,  the 
theme  which  thrilled  his  soul.  Each  borrowed 
what  he  pleased  from  his  comrades,  from  artists 
of  an  earlier  time  or  from  nature,  yet  each  seemed 
to  see  the  world  through  a  glamour  made  for  his 
eyes  alone. 

Traits  which  distinguish  the  early  from  the  high 
renaissance  may  be  learned  by  comparing  the 
renderings  of  similar  details;  for  instance,  the 
treatment  of  drapery  by  Mantegna  and  by  Andrea 
del  Sarto,  or  the  painting  of  the  nude  by  Signorelli 
and  by  Michelangelo.  In  a  former  chapter  some 
experiments  are  suggested  by  means  of  which  one 
may  learn  to  observe  and  understand  the  bolder 
chiaroscuro,  the  simplifying  effect  of  cast  sha- 
dows, which  mark  the  "grand  manner"  of  paint- 
ing. As  to  colour  harmony,  expressive  action  and 
gesture,  effects  of  aerial  perspective  and  foreshort- 
ening, one  must  notice  these  things  in  nature  to 
appreciate  what  they  meant  to  the  old  masters. 
Four  hundred  years  have  wrought  few  changes  in 
the  "look  of  things."  Oculist  and  dentist  have 
indeed  modified  the  marks  of  old  age  on  the  human 
visage,  yet  one  may  still  see  at  times  some  remind- 
er of  observations  which  led  Michelangelo  to 
represent  one  of  his  old  sibyls  as  far-sighted  and 
another  as  near-sighted,  or  which  made  Leonardo 
insist  on  the  sharp  approach  of  nose  and  chip  in 
his  studies  of  the  aged. 


98      MASTERPIECES   OF   PAINTING 

It  should  not  be  assumed  that  these  are  matters 
belonging  exclusively  to  the  studio  and  the  art 
school.  The  sublimest  thoughts  of  great  painters 
are,  it  is  true,  expressed  in  a  language  little  under- 
stood, but  Nature,  from  whom  they  learned  their 
secrets,  opens  her  treasures  to  all  and  never  refuses 
to  teach  her  children.  If  we  walk  with  her  along 
the  same  old  paths,  she  will  point  out  with  moth- 
erly pride  the  preferences  of  her  gifted  sons.  That 
golden  after-glow  was  beloved  by  Perugino  and 
by  Fra  Bartolommeo,  the  morning  mist  washing 
out  the  distant  mountains  to  a  dim  watery  blue 
was  chosen  by  Leonardo,  Michelangelo  would 
have  found  some  models  among  those  workmen 
on  the  railroad  track,  that  playful  baby  throws 
out  his  arms  and  legs  in  funny  foreshortenings 
which  would  have  rejoiced  the  eyes  of  Correggio. 
Seeing  their  pictures  again  we  shall  understand 
them  better. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Homely  Art  of  Holland 

"  "To  bathe  all,  even  light  itself,  in  a  bath  of  shadow,  from 
which  it  might  emerge  more  wet  and  more  glimmering;  to 
make  these  waves  of  obscurity  sweep  around  the  lit  surfaces; 
to  vary,  to  deepen,  and  to  thicken  the  flood,  and  yet  to  make 
obscurity  visible  and  shadow  easy  to  see  through,' — such  was 
the  method  of  Rembrandt,  in  which  he  worked  with  a  perfec- 
tion so  complete  that  even  nature's  use  of  a  similar  mystery 
bears  his  name." 

John  LaFarge,  "Considerations  on  Painting." 

THE  long  struggle  by  which  Holland,  at  fearful 
cost,  achieved  her  liberty,  political  and  reli- 
gious, had  been  shared  by  all,  and  it  had  raised  the 
common  people  to  a  degree  of  intelligence  and 
independence  above  that  of  their  class  elsewhere 
in  Europe.  Freedom  brought  prosperity.  Hol- 
land became  the  country  of  homes;  painting  an 
art  of  the  home.  The  family  was  the  center  of 
interest,  and  the  painters  sought  their  most  con- 
genial subjects  at  the  kitchen  fireside  or  in  the 
village  street;  the  variety  and  picturesqueness  of 
every-day  life  as  seen  in  the  dwellings  of  the 
wealthy  or  of  the  humble,  ordinary  occupations 
and  pleasures,  were  full  of  fresh  inspiration.  In 
cheerful  domestic  scenes  the  painters  found  the 
beautiful,  the  poetic,  the  holy.  That  love  of 
country,  shown  by  the  brave  soldiers  and  sailors 
99 


ioo     MASTERPIECES  OF   PAINTING 

of  Holland  in  her  defence,  is  expressed  also  by  her 
painters  in  their  works.  They  too  loved  their 
country  with  all  her  peculiar  traits,  her  canals 
and  dykes  and  windmills,  her  farms  and  cattle, 
her  quaint,  clean  little  villages.  They  loved  her 
climate,  its  rolling  clouds,  its  mists  and  fogs;  they 
loved  the  shore  and  the  sea  and  the  rude  sea-faring 
life;  they  loved  the  great  warships  and  the  fishing 
fleets,  all  the  sources  of  their  country's  renown 
and  prosperity.  The  purchasers  of  pictures  shared 
the  enthusiasm,  and  little  paintings  of  these  sub- 
jects became  the  fashion,  such  as  could  be  bought 
without  extravagance  and  could  be  hung  upon  the 
walls  of  rooms. 

With  no  loftier  aspirations  than  themes  of  this 
kind  could  satisfy,  it  might  seem  that  all  the 
artists  would  have  fallen,  as  some  of  them,  indeed, 
did  fall,  into  vulgar  or  prosaic  realism.  The  land- 
scape and  marine  painters  were  saved  from  this 
snare  by  the  changeful  beauty  of  nature.  In  a 
country  like  Holland,  where  seawinds  drive  the 
mists  and  bend  and  twist  the  trees,  where  the  sun 
breaks  through  torn  clouds  and  falls  in  rifts  on  sea 
or  land,  where  every  change  of  the  changeful 
weather  gives  a  new  aspect,  a  new  effect  of  colour, 
the  most  ardent  realist  must  be  a  visionary  or  the 
truth  for  which  he  is  striving  will  forever  escape 
him. 

Figure  painters  also  were  saved  from  uninspired 
realism  by  a  transforming  touch  of  nature.  They 
had  no  care  for  those  ideally  beautiful  shapes 
loved  of  Italian  painters,  if  indeed  they  ever  saw 
them.  To  the  Dutch  painter  the  touch  which 
could  turn  the  ugliest  shape  into  a  thing  of  beauty 


wm j 

.^■a        Jm 

h 

fm 

lSi 

tXJF1^^* Jz*         ''WEfmi- 

ik 

L_    _.^S 

up 

^£y 

Plate  16.     Andrea  del  Sarto:  The  "Pieta. 


Plate  17.     Nicholas  Maes:  "Le  Benedicite. 


HOMELY  ART  OF  HOLLAND       101 

was  the  touch  of  light.  In  pictures  of  interiors 
the  painters  often  seemed  to  use  light  as  sparingly 
as  if  it  were  a  costly  thing,  like  the  gold  and  ultra- 
marine of  the  early  Italians,  not  to  be  lavished 
indiscreetly,  but  to  be  spent  with  thrift  and  judg- 
ment. As  the  Italian  painter  marked  the  center 
of  interest  in  his  masterpiece  by  some  exquisite 
design  wrought  out  with  uncommon  splendor  on 
the  great  halo  about  the  head  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin, so  the  Dutch  painter  marked  the  center  of 
interest  in  his  picture  by  a  spot  of  light  to  which 
all  else  in  the  composition  was  subordinate.  The 
apparent  subject  of  the  picture  mattered  little;  it 
might  be  a  portrait  group,  an  aristocratic  interior, 
a  peasant  home,  or  a  wayside  tavern;  the  real 
subject  was  the  play  of  light.  Through  the  con- 
centration of  interest  on  this  single  theme  the 
painters  attained  very  wonderful  technical  skill; 
they  observed  so  truly  the  way  in  which  light  falls 
on  various  surfaces  that  they  were  able  to  paint 
every  kind  of  texture  with  marvellous  effect,  but 
it  is  only  the  latest  and  the  weakest  among  them, 
those  farthest  removed  from  the  example  and 
influence  of  Rembrandt,  who  made  imitation  their 
chief  aim. 

One  of  these  homely  little  pictures  in  which  the 
play  of  light  makes  all  the  beauty,  is  illustrated 
in  plate  17,  the  "Benedicite,"  by  Nicholas  Maes, 
one  of  the  pupils  of  Rembrandt.  This  little  mas- 
terpiece is  painted  on  a  panel  of  wood  (twenty-two 
by  sixteen  inches).  The  light  falls  from  above 
through  some  high  window  at  the  left.  It  strikes 
the  upturned  face  and  folded  hands  of  the  old 
woman  and   parts  of  her  dress.     It  brings  out 


102    MASTERPIECES  OF   PAINTING 

certain  details  of  the  table,  where  her  frugal  meal 
is  spread,  and  the  bowl  upon  her  knees.  Her 
spinning  wheel  and  her  cat  are  almost  lost  in 
shadow.  In  the  comments  accompanying  the 
beautiful  engraving  of  another  tiny  work  of  Maes, 
Timothy  Cole  thus  closes  a  description  of  the 
picture  before  us:  "Superlative  as  is  the  workman- 
ship of  this  rare  piece,  it  is  yet  the  sentiment  per- 
vading it  which  holds  one — the  sincere  uplifted 
countenance  of  the  sweet  old  woman,  so  touching 
in  its  aspect  of  devotion,  the  look  coming  from 
the  soul  within.  The  light,  catching  her  eye  and 
blurring  it,  gives  to  her  vision  a  far-away  cast — a 
kindling  of  the  inward  spirit.  Her  fragile  frame, 
her  clasped  hands,  and  her  loneliness,  raise  in 
one  a  compassionate  feeling."* 

Mr.  Cole  judges  with  the  eye  of  a  true  artist, 
as  is  shown  in  the  description  preceding  this  com- 
ment, and  even  more  clearly  in  his  lovely  engrav- 
ing of  the  "Spinner,"  in  the  Amsterdam  Gallery, 
with  which  the  text  belongs.  Those  who  are  not 
artists  are,  on  the  contrary,  far  too  likely  to  see 
and  feel  the  sentiment  only,  and  therefore  they 
fail  to  appreciate  the  picture  as  a  picture;  they 
regard  it  rather  as  a  poem  of  lowly  life,  and  find 
in  it  only  thoughts  which  might  have  been  ex- 
pressed in  poetic  language.  But  Maes  was  a 
painter,  and  probably  not  a  poet,  although  he  had 
poetic  insight.  The  light  of  earth  falls  impartially 
on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  it  is  more  appeal- 
ing, more  worthy,  when  it  falls,  as  in  this  instance, 
upon  the  good.     But  had  this  devout  old  woman, 

*"01d  Dutch  and  Flemish  Masters,"  engraved  by  Timothy 
Cole.     Notes  by  engraver,  p.  64. 


HOMELY  ART  OF  HOLLAND       103 

with  her  careworn  face  and  wrinkled  hands,  been 
stationed  in  some  wholly  different  relation  to  the 
light,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  open  courtyard  where 
reflected  lights  played  all  about  her,  this  artist 
would  not,  I  think,  have  taken  her  for  the  subject 
of  his  picture.  He  liked  old  women  at  work  or 
prayer,  and  all  his  finest  works  have  subjects 
similar  to  this  one.  The  similarity,  however, 
applies  not  only  to  the  personage  of  the  picture 
but  also  to  the  whole  arrangement.  The  light  is 
generally  at  the  left  and  falls  from  above.  It 
falls  on  the  aged  figure  bent  over  her  work,  or 
folding  her  hands  in  prayer,  and  it  passes  on  to  a 
neighboring  wall  on  which  her  shadow  is  cast.  For 
example,  in  the  picture  engraved  by  Air.  Cole,  an 
old  woman  sitting  close  to  a  wall,  is  bending  for- 
ward over  her  wheel.  Her  spectacles  have  slipped 
far  down  her  nose  as  she  leans  intently  over  her 
work,  wholly  absorbed  in  it.  The  light  on  the 
wall  frames  in  her  head  and  dark  cap,  her  wide 
collar  completing  the  circle  of  light.  The  corners 
of  the  room  are  shadowy,  and  the  highest  light 
striking  a  bit  of  the  white  collar,  draws  the  eye  at 
once  to  the  center  of  the  composition.  It  is  an 
arrangement  of  opposed  lights  and  darks,  though 
much  of  its  beauty  is  due  to  the  natural  pose  of  the 
figure  and  the  fine  drawing  of  the  wrinkled  face 
and  hands. 

Another  picture  of  a  similar  subject  is  in  the 
same  gallery.  In  this,  as  in  the  other  pictures, 
various  household  objects  hang  upon  the  walls. 
The  face  of  the  old  woman,  partly  turned  from 
the  observer,  is  framed  in  by  a  large  black  hood, 
this  dark  in  turn  is  surrounded  by  the  light  on  the 


104     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

collar  and  on  the  wall  behind  the  head,  and  these 
light  expanses  are  set  in  a  dark  mass  made  by  the 
sombre  colours  of  the  dress  and  by  the  ceiling  and 
shadowy  corners  of  the  room.  In  all  these  pic- 
tures, I  believe,  the  woman  wears  a  black  bodice 
with  red  sleeves.  The  artist  seemed  to  love  a 
colour  scheme  of  white,  black,  and  red  with  large 
masses  of  gray.  The  artist's  subject  then  was 
not  a  study  of  resigned  and  devout  old  age,  but  an 
old  woman  in  a  dress  of  sharply  contrasting 
colours,  white,  black,  and  red,  seated  in  a  shadowy 
room  under  a  strong  play  of  light  from  a  small, 
high  window.  To  enter  into  the  artist's  enthusi- 
asm and  to  appreciate  his  work,  it  does  not  suffice 
to  sympathize  with  the  weary  old  woman  nor  to 
invent  a  life  history  which  will  account  for  her 
poverty,  her  industry,  her  faith,  and  her  lonely  lot. 
It  is  far  more  important  to  look  thoughtfully  at 
some  figure  placed  in  a  similar  relation  to  the 
source  of  light,  to  note  how  the  wall  varies  as  the 
shadows  are  cast  upon  it,  how  the  light  reveals  the 
character  of  hands  and  face  as  it  plays  upon  them, 
how  the  objects  in  the  shadowy  corners  show 
mysteriously,  how  the  little  utensils  hung  on  the 
wall,  the  pans,  the  pots,  the  keys,  cast  long  dis- 
torted shadows  as  the  light  hits  them  aslant,  and 
how  the  blacks  and  whites  and  reds  are  changed 
as  the  surfaces  turn  from  the  light  to  the  shadow. 
It  is  through  these  things  that  Maes  speaks  to  us. 
If  we  fail  to  understand  this  modest  soul,  who 
made  of  his  one  talent  so  beautiful  a  thing,  how 
may  we  hope  to  understand  the  deeper  nature 
and  the  greater  genius  of  his  master,  Rembrandt! 
Rembrandt's  way  of  transfiguring  all  common 


HOMELY  ART  OF  HOLLAND       105 

things  by  the  touch  of  light  may  be  seen  in  plate 
1 8,  "The  Philosopher  in  Meditation. "  This  tiny 
panel  sets  before  us  a  great  vaulted  interior  with 
one  wide  window  through  which  the  light  falls  full 
upon  the  fine  old  head  of  the  scholar  and  upon  the 
broad  pages  of  the  open  book  before  him.  The 
winding  staircase  loses  itself  in  the  great  shadows. 
All  the  shapes  in  the  shadowy  parts  of  the  room 
are  picked  out  by  faint  touches  of  light.  The 
architecture  has  almost  no  lines,  the  objects  no 
contours,  yet  the  darkness  is  far  from  empty. 
These  wide  dark  spaces  form  a  setting  for  the  one 
small  lighted  part  which  is  wrought  with  marvel- 
lous beauty  and  feeling.  A  similar  use  of  light  is 
seen  in  another  little  picture,  also  in  the  Louvre, 
called  "The  Carpenter's  Home. "  This  also  shows 
a  large  interior,  a  high,  bare  room,  both  shop  and 
kitchen.  Against  the  wall  on  the  right  is  a  great 
hooded  fireplace,  and  in  the  opposite  wall  is  a  lofty 
window  with  leaded  glass.  The  light  coming 
through  this  window  falls  on  the  bent  shoulders 
of  the  carpenter  working  near  it.  Almost  in 
silhouette  against  this  mass  of  light  is  the  dark 
shape  of  the  old  grandmother,  one  of  the  figures 
forming  the  central  group.  She  bends  forward  to 
lift  a  corner  of  the  baby's  blanket  and  gaze  upon 
him  as  he  sleeps  upon  his  mother's  knee,  and  the 
mother,  also  in  dark  clothes,  is  leaning  over  him. 
The  light  strikes  full  upon  the  baby  form  and  the 
draperies  on  which  it  lies,  thus  making  it  the 
center  of  the  composition,  a  bright  spot  of  light 
framed  in  by  darks.  The  light  passing  over  the 
group,  makes  a  bright  patch  beyond  it  on  the 
floor.     All  the  rest  of  the  room  lies  more  or  less 


106     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

in  shadow,  but  through  the  gloom  one  sees  the 
andirons  before  the  fire,  the  pot  upon  the  crane, 
the  baby's  cradle  in  the  corner,  the  carpenter's 
tools  against  the  wall.  The  faces  of  the  two 
women  are  in  a  half  light  and  the  younger  has  a 
lovable  motherly  look,  but  no  personal  beauty. 
Nor  has  any  beauty  except  that  of  light  been 
bestowed  upon  the  baby.  The  little  picture 
shines,  a  gem  among  masterpieces,  by  the  beauty 
of  its  light.  Michel  says  of  it:  "The  minute  finish, 
the  delicate  modelling,  the  radiant  aspects  both  of 
life  and  nature  in  this  work,  seem  to  suggest  that 
the  painter  had  put  forth  all  his  powers  to  shed 
lustre  on  this  poetic  conception  of  work  and  family 
life — the  two  things  dearest  to  him  upon  earth.  "* 

To  find  in  nature  that  touch  of  beauty  by  means 
of  which  Rembrandt  could  express  all  that  to  him 
was  most  worthy  of  love  and  of  reverence  it  is  not 
necessary  to  go  to  Holland.  Much  in  his  pictures 
is  thoroughly  Dutch,  because  he  saw  the  light 
falling  on  Dutch  things,  but  he  loved  the  light  and 
the  surrounding  shadows  more  than  the  thing.  So 
humble  often  are  his  themes  that  it  may  not  seem 
profane  to  suggest  the  cellar  as  an  available  spot 
in  which  to  study  nature's  use  of  the  mystery 
which  bears  his  name.  There  we  find  the  light 
falling  through  some  small  window  and  accenting 
those  objects  which  lie  in  its  path,  bringing  them 
out  strongly  against  the  surrounding  gloom. 
Objects  in  the  shadowy  corners  of  the  room  receive 
faint  touches  of  light  making  certain  details 
visible  and  suggesting  others  so  that  we  see  more 
with  the  imagination  than  with  the  eyes.     Some 

♦Michel,  "Rembrandt,"  Vol  I,  p.  266. 


HOMELY  ART  OF  HOLLAND       107 

potatoes,  or  flower  pots  or  tools  over  in  the  corner, 
reveal  themselves  in  this  fashion,  serving  to 
illustrate  La  Farge's  descriptive  definition  of 
"what  the  language  of  the  studios  calls  'Chiaro- 
scuro'— that  is  to  say,  if  we  can  define  so  complex 
a  thing,  the  manner  in  which  what  we  see  merges 
from  shade  into  light  or  retreats  within  the  shad- 
ows. It  has  always  been  felt  by  painters  and  by 
all  sculptors  who  are  complete.  We  like  to  see 
the  forms  made  more  distinct  by  the  indistinctness 
of  a  part.  It  marks  the  beauty  of  those  times  of 
the  day  when  part  of  what  we  see  passes  into  indis- 
tinct air,  bringing  out  all  the  more  into  relief  what 
is  strongly  lit."* 

Other  and  more  attractive  studies  in  Rem- 
brandt shadows  may  be  made  in  some  beautiful 
and  dimly  lighted  church,  where  the  columns 
vanish  in  invisible  regions  above  and  nave  and 
apse  stretch  back  into  limitless  gloom.  This  feel- 
ing of  unbounded  space  is  given  by  Rembrandt 
in  his  picture  of  the  "  Presentation  in  the  Temple, " 
in  the  Hague  Gallery.  We  seem  to  look  into  a 
temple  of  vast  proportions.  On  the  pavement  in 
the  foreground  the  central  group  is  gathered  under 
a  great  shaft  of  light  from  some  high  window  at 
the  left.  The  principal  figure  in  this  group  is  the 
aged  Simeon  holding  the  little  Christchild  in  his 
arms,  with  the  young  mother  kneeling  beside 
them.  The  light  striking  also  across  the  shoulders 
of  the  High  Priest,  who  is  standing  before  them  in 
robes  of  great  splendor,  passes  beyond,  and  lies  in 
a  bright  patch  on  the  pavement.  These  spots  of 
light  are  set  in  a  dark  field.     The  lofty  columns 

*La  Farge,  "Great  Masters,"  p.  III. 


108     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

and  the  great  staircase  on  which  a  crowd  is  gathered 
are  in  a  subdued  half  light,  the  gloom  deepen- 
ing towards  the  margin  of  the  picture;  the  darks 
on  the  left  are  made  by  an  unlighted  interior, 
those  on  the  right  are  increased  by  a  dark,  heavy 
curtain. 

In  other  pictures  of  scenes  from  the  life  of  Christ 
the  painter  finds  means,  as  in  this  case,  to  express 
in  terms  of  purely  pictorial  beauty  his  thought  of 
the  "Light  of  the  World,"  a  figure  of  speech,  we 
may  well  believe,  most  significant  to  him.  He 
shows  no  other  mark  of  reverence,  but  makes  the 
Christ  the  central  radiance,  the  "Light  shining  in 
darkness." 

Those  strange  effects  of  night-light  which  Rem- 
brandt and  other  Dutch  painters  before  and  after 
him  loved  to  represent  require  some  observation 
of  similar  appearances  for  their  full  appreciation. 
If  no  model  is  at  hand,  the  plaster  cast  of  a  head 
may  be  used  in  experimenting  by  candle-light,  with 
very  interesting  results.  The  candle  should  be 
placed  so  that  its  light  will  fall  on  a  part  of  the 
face,  to  show  how  the  planes  which  received  the 
light  are  sharply  cut  out  against  the  darkness. 
If  the  candle  be  placed  in  the  background,  but 
not  directly  behind  the  cast,  its  shape  will  be 
defined  by  a  thin  contour  of  light  such  as  is  often 
seen  on  the  figure  of  some  shepherd  in  a  Nativity 
picture.  Another  striking  effect  is  produced  by 
placing  the  candle  lower  than  the  face  and  letting 
it  shine  upon  those  surfaces  which  are  commonly 
seen  in  shadow,  the  under  parts  of  chin,  nose,  and 
brows,  and  the  upper  instead  of  the  lower  lip. 
The  most  familiar  face,  thus  lighted,  will  take  on 


HOMELY  ART  OF  HOLLAND       109 

an  unwonted  look,  as  may  be  easily  discovered 
by  placing  oneself,  candle  in  hand,  before  a  mir- 
ror. The  painters  loved  to  show  this  effect  on 
the  face  of  the  Mother  Mary,  bending  above  the 
radiant  form  of  the  little  Christchild.  Correggio, 
in  his  "Holy  Night,"  and  many  of  the  later 
Italian  painters  used  this  device,  and  a  certain 
Dutch  painter,  Gerard  Honthorst,  who  learned  his 
art  in  Italy,  was  given  a  nickname  in  Italian 
fashion,  being  called  in  that  country,  because  of 
his  fondness  for  effects  of  night-light,  "Gherardo 
delta  Notte,"  that  is,  "Gerard  of  the  Night." 

The  pretty  story  that  as  a  boy  Rembrandt 
loved  to  watch  the  rifts  of  sunlight  in  his  father's 
mill  belongs  perhaps  to  the  realm  of  fable  rather 
than  to  that  of  history,  but  it  holds  a  truth  like  a 
nature  myth.  A  picturesque  old  barn  with  some 
aperture  through  which  in  the  late  afternoon  the 
sunlight  sends  a  slanting  beam  may  draw  us  nearer 
to  Rembrandt  than  many  a  page  that  has  been 
written  about  him.  We  note  the  straight  path 
of  the  light,  the  way  in  which  part  of  the  rays 
catch  on  a  prominent  object  and  are  reflected 
brightly  from  the  planes  or  surfaces  which  directly 
face  the  light  and  less  brilliantly  from  those  which 
slant  towards  it.  We  see  the  rays  which  have  not 
been  interrupted  pass  on  beyond  until  they  reach 
the  floor,  crossing  over  a  chasm  of  shadow.  This 
shadow  is  made  up  of  all  those  planes  on  the 
object  which  turn  from  the  light  and  of  a  distorted 
pattern  of  the  object  itself  stretched  out  upon  the 
floor.  We  see  that  details  are  lost  in  the  shadow 
and  more  or  less  in  the  high  lights,  but  that  they 
stand  out  sharply  just  where  the  light  and  shade 


no    MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

are  parting  company.  Rembrandt  left  the  wide 
expanses  of  shadow  in  his  pictures  with  very  little 
detail  and  the  highly  lighted  portions  are  only 
slightly  modelled,  but  the  details  between  the 
lights  are  wrought  out  with  so  much  subtlety  that 
the  art  of  it  all  escapes  our  first  notice. 

Rembrandt  loved  the  play  of  light  on  every 
kind  of  surface,  and  dressed  himself  in  armour  or 
in  velvets,  or  arrayed  Saskia,  his  dimpled  gay 
young  wife,  in  fantastic  costumes  and  all  sorts  of 
finery,  to  study  the  effects.  In  one  of  the  pictures 
of  Saskia  some  rays  of  light  are  caught  on  her  hat 
brim  and  others  pass  on  to  the  next  prominence, 
which  happens  to  be  her  saucy  little  nose.  The 
artist  has  indicated  this  point  by  a  thick  twist  of 
paint  on  which  the  light  can  glint.  He  loved  all 
that  was  picturesque  under  the  light,  from  splendid 
stuffs,  metal  work  and  jewels,  to  beggars'  dirty 
rags.  He  loved  old  faces  where  life  has  left  its 
mark,  the  venerable  aristocrat,  the  scholar,  the 
Jewish  merchant,  the  peddler,  the  pauper.  In  his 
works  one  often  finds  some  deeper  meanings  for 
which  the  visible  part  served  as  a  symbol.  Michel, 
in  comparing  him  with  some  of  his  lesser  com- 
patriots, "little  masters"  as  they  are  called,  says: 
"The  problems  with  which  these  artists  were 
concerned  were  purely  picturesque,  and  we  shall 
look  in  vain  to  them  for  any  of  that  expressive 
significance  and  intimate  union  between  subject 
and  treatment  so  characteristic  of  Rembrandt. 
In  his  art  humanity  was  always  the  essential 
element,  and  he  made  the  infinite  modifications 


HOMELY  ART  OF  HOLLAND      in 

of  light  subservient  to  the  revelation  of  its  moral 
life  or  dominant  emotions.  "* 

It  may  be  possible  to  get  nearer  to  the  minds  of 
painters  by  considering  those  conditions  which 
necessarily  distinguish  their  art  from  all  other 
forms  of  artistic  expression.  A  clearer  notion  of 
what  is  pictorial,  in  distinction  from  what  is  sculp- 
turesque or  poetic  or  musical,  may  be  obtained 
by  confronting,  at  least  in  imagination,  a  definite 
problem.  By  way  of  experiment  we  might  choose 
a  well-known  story,  as  "David  mourning  for 
Absalom. "  Throughout  many  of  the  great  epochs 
of  painting,  subjects  from  sacred  history  were 
commonly  used,  those  especially  which  had, 
besides  the  historic  event,  a  significance  deeper 
and  more  universal.  Here  is  such  a  subject. 
Reading  the  story  once  more  in  order  to  obtain 
some  visual  image  of  it,  we  find  that  the  old  story- 
teller has  said  nothing  of  the  gestures  or  appear- 
ance of  the  broken-hearted  king.  He  has  told  us 
what  David  said,  not  how  he  looked.  Yet  every- 
one has  dimly  in  mind  some  picture  of  that  cham- 
ber over  the  gate,  with  its  heavy  masonry,  andfof 
the  old  father  who  has  retreated  there  because  his 
kingly  dignity  is  broken  by  anguish  beyond  control. 
The  painter  is  obliged  to  bring  his  dim  thought 
to  a  realization  which  can  be  wrought  out  in  the 
materials  of  his  craft.  By  trying  to  follow  his 
thought  one  begins  to  understand  what  he  may  and 
what  he  may  not  do,  one  gets  an  inkling  of  the 
many  things  he  needs  to  know,  and  of  the  infinite 
variety  of  ways  in  which  a  theme  may  be  treated. 
It  is  clear  that  one  painter  may  think  in  lines  and 
*Michel,  "Rembrandt,"  Vol.  I,  p.  154. 


ii2    MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

their  arrangement,  another  in  the  distribution  of 
spots  and  splashes  of  colour  and  another  in  masses 
of  light  and  dark,  and  yet  each  at  the  same  time 
be  meditating  upon  David  and  his  sorrow.  Ideas 
which  are  common  to  all  would  be  expressed  in 
wholly  different  ways  by  Giotto,  for  instance,  and 
by  Rembrandt.  The  subject  excites  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  painter,  and  by  his  way  of  treating  it 
he  reveals  his  own  ideals  and  his  own  enthusiasms. 
Each  commission  gives  him  a  chance  to  do  what 
he  wants  to  do.  Every  work  of  art  is  thus  a  sur- 
prise to  one  who  sees  it  for  the  first  time.  No 
words  written  about  it  can  bring  it  before  the 
mind  just  as  it  is,  and  some  act  of  reconciliation 
is  often  necessary  before  it  can  be  truly  appreci- 
ated. The  painter,  like  the  poet,  makes  appeal 
to  an  answering  spirit,  he  bids  us  bring 

.     .     .     "a  heart 
That  watches  and  receives." 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Royal  Art  of  Spain 

AMONG  the  painters  of  Spain  Velasquez  so 
far  surpasses  all  the  rest  in  vigour  and  original- 
ity that  he  seems  like  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude 
shining  lonely  in  a  dark  sky.  The  environment 
in  which  he  was  placed  seemed  most  unfavorable 
to  the  development  of  independent  talent,  yet  his 
portraits,  even  those  of  the  king,  are  painted  with 
a  sureness  and  freedom,  a  boldness  of  characteriza- 
tion, an  unflattering  realism,  which  indicate  the 
master  and  not  the  courtier.  He  catches  to  the 
life  the  poses  of  his  models,  marking  how  they 
reveal  high  breeding  and  courtesy,  or  betray 
vanity  and  conscious  superiority,  but  through  it 
all  he  shows  the  personal  conviction  of  a  painter 
unhampered  by  the  presence  of  royalty. 

His  position  as  court  painter  was  established 
almost  at  the  beginning  of  his  career  and  con- 
tinued to  the  end.  The  rich  royal  collections  of 
Spain  brought  him  into  touch  with  fine  works  of 
foreign  schools,  but  this  knowledge  failed  to  pro- 
duce in  him  any  undue  reverence  for  past  tradi- 
tions in  regard  to  his  art.  Although  he  made  two 
journeys  to  Italy,  and  showed  an  appreciation  of 
the  works  of  some  of  the  greatest  masters,  he  be- 
came the  disciple  of  none. 
113 


ii4     MASTERPIECES   OF   PAINTING 

His  commissions  were  chiefly  for  royal  portraits 
and  for  large  pictures  celebrating  the  greatness  of 
Spain  and  suitable  to  adorn  the  walls  of  her 
gloomy  palaces.  The  taste  of  the  court  in  his 
day  was  in  many  things  incredibly  bad.  But 
however  frightful  the  costumes  of  royalty,  how- 
ever hideous  and  deformed  the  dwarfs  kept  for 
the  entertainment  of  the  court,  the  court  painter 
had  no  choice  but  to  paint  everything  just  as  he 
found  it.  Even  the  friendship  of  King  Philip  so 
graciously  accorded  him  might  have  been  a  con- 
straint upon  his  freedom.  Of  this  association  a 
recent  critic  says:  "The  two,  artist  and  king,  grew 
old  together,  with  like  interests  in  horses,  dogs, 
and  painting;  thawing  when  alone  into  that  easy 
familiarity  between  master  and  old  servant, 
freezing  instantly  in  public  into  the  stiff  positions 
that  their  parts  in  life  required."*  Doubtless  in 
those  days  it  seemed  that  a  painter  was  to  be 
envied  who  for  so  many  years  enjoyed  royal 
favor,  but  did  any  one  think  how  lucky  the  king 
was  to  have  an  artist  so  fitted  to  give  renown  to 
his  reign.  A  Spanish  writer  speaks  of  the  king 
as  "Philip  IV,  called  by  his  courtiers  Thilip  the 
Great,'  but  whom  no  one  today  would  give  that 
title  had  he  not  been  portrayed  by  Velasquez,  "f 
Yet  it  may  well  be,  if,  as  tradition  has  said, 
Velasquez  was  called  the  "painter  of  kings  and 
the  king  of  painters,"  that  the  artist  in  his  secret 
soul  esteemed  as  the  more  honorable  the  second 
part  of  his  title.  It  seems  as  if  the  king  could 
hardly  have  realized  what  he  was  getting  and 

*Stevenson,  "Velasquez,"  p.  7. 

fPicon,  "Vida  y  Obras  de  Don  Diego  Velasquez,"  p.  5. 


THE   ROYAL   ART   OF    SPAIN       115 

paying  for,  because  the  series  of  portraits  of  him- 
self from  early  manhood  to  old  age  form  a  char- 
acter study  almost  pitiless  in  its  verity. 

Modern  painters  have  keenly  appreciated  the 
quality  of  the  art  of  Velasquez,  and  the  reign  of 
this  grand  old  king  of  painters  is  not  yet  ended. 
The  study  of  one  or  two  of  his  pictures  may  help 
us  to  understand  more  clearly  the  reasons  for  this 
enduring  influence  among  those  of  his  own  calling. 
The  ugly  fashions  of  the  day  in  which  he  lived  and 
the  unattractive  types  he  was  called  upon  to  por- 
tray have  kept  many  who  are  not  artists,  and  who 
find  it  difficult  to  like  a  subject  which  seems  to 
them  to  have  no  beauty,  from  sharing  the  admira- 
tion accorded  so  enthusiastically  by  the  painters. 

The  so-called  "Darkling  School"  of  Italy,  the 
"Tenebrosi,"  had  set  a  fashion  for  large  pictures 
in  which  all  the  interest  is  massed  in  the  lower  part, 
the  upper  part  being  left  without  any  accent  and 
used  simply  to  give  a  feeling  of  space  and  air. 
This  part  in  "darkling"  pictures  is  usually  en- 
veloped in  deep  shadow  or  filled  with  a  drapery 
of  some  dark  colour,  and  balances  the  concentrated 
masses  of  light  which  mark  the  center  of  interest. 
Ribera,  a  Spaniard,  was  the  disciple  of  Caravaggio, 
the  great  master  of  the  darkling  school,  and 
learned  to  like  these  vast,  gloomy  depths,  bare 
vaultings,  and  heavy  draperies.  Large  and 
sombre  compositions  accorded  well  with  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  age,  for  this  was  also  on  a  grandiose 
scale.  The  spacious  interiors  of  palaces  provided 
wide  walls  on  which  small  pictures  would  have 
seemed  lost.  The  churches  were  loftier  still,  and 
the  side  altars  were  often   adorned  with  great 


n6     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

columns  set  against  the  walls  and  supporting 
heavy,  ornate  pediments.  A  very  large  picture 
was  needed  to  fill  the  space  thus  framed  in.  The 
eclectic  painters  of  Bologna,  Guido  Reni,  Guercino 
and  Domenichino,  often  filled  the  upper  part  of 
their  great  altarpieces  with  fluttering  angels;  the 
severe  manner  of  the  "tenebrosi,"  who  left  this 
an  expanse  of  dark,  better  suited  the  Spanish 
taste.  The  feeling  for  room  which  was  shared  by 
Velasquez  shows  in  many  of  his  works.  In  the 
"Maids  of  Honor"  the  spacious  glooms  extend 
above  and  beyond  the  figures  and  the  light  falls 
chiefly  on  the  foreground  group.  But  more  often 
Velasquez  creates  the  wide  spaces  behind  the 
figures,  giving  a  sense  of  unlimited  room  on  a  can- 
vas not  much  larger  than  was  required  for  the 
principal  group.  His  "  space  composition  "  differs 
from  that  of  the  Italians  in  being  so  bare  of  ac- 
cent, so  unoccupied.  It  differs  from  that  of  the 
Dutch  in  being  grayer  and  more  atmospheric, 
instead  of  brown  and  mysteriously  dark. 

The  darling  subject  of  the  royal  commissions, 
next  in  importance  to  the  king  himself,  was  his 
little  son,  Don  Balthazar  Carlos.  During  the  boy's 
short  life,  Velasquez  painted  him  many  times, 
beginning  when  the  baby  prince  was  taking  his 
first  steps.  From  babyhood  the  little  heir  has 
always  a  princely  bearing  and  wears  his  sword 
gallantly.  In  plate  19  he  is  represented  at  the 
age  of  six  in  his  hunting  dress,  with  dogs  and  gun. 
The  canvas  has  been  pieced  at  the  top  and  is  now 
of  the  same  height  as  the  portrait  of  the  king  in 
hunting  costume.  The  strip  of  canvas  may  have 
been  added  to  make  the  two  portraits  companion 


Plate  19.     Velasquez:  Don  Balthazar  Carlos. 


THE   ROYAL   ART   OF    SPAIN       117 

pieces,  but  one  feels  that  the  painter  liked  the 
roominess;  his  little  lad  has  just  the  look  of  a  small 
child  alone  in  a  big  world  of  which  he  knows  no 
fear.  He  seems  to  have  a  sense  of  royal  dignity 
more  inborn  and  less  inbred  and  conscious  than 
have  the  royal  children  of  Van  Dyck.  The  ex- 
pression is  childlike,  but  also  aristocratic.  The 
colour  scheme  of  the  picture  is  cool  and  silvery. 
The  boy's  costume  is  a  soft,  dark  brown,  the  large 
gloves  are  a  lighter  brown,  and  the  hair  is  lighter 
still.  The  brown  coats  of  the  dogs  harmonize 
with  these  tones.  The  foreground  is  of  bare 
whitish  earth  and  scanty  grass.  The  background 
is  cool  and  gray,  the  sky  dark  and  threatening,  the 
mountains  gray,  and  the  far  valley  a  grayish  green. 
This  background  is  very  characteristic  of  the 
artist,  who  many  times  introduces  the  distant 
mountains  and  the  intervening  valley,  all  green 
and  blue  and  gray. 

Among  the  works  of  Velasquez  there  are  other 
instances  of  the  piecing  of  canvas.  These  evi- 
dences of  a  changed  intention  on  the  part  of  the 
painter  well  illustrate  the  off-hand,  spontaneous 
character  of  the  composition.  It  is  interesting  to 
compare  with  this  free  method  the  early  Italian 
panel  pictures  in  which  the  form  was  first  settled 
and  the  ingenuity  of  the  painter  was  engaged  in 
adapting  his  design  to  fixed  conditions.  Through- 
out the  work  of  Velasquez  one  feels  the  freedom 
of  experiment.  He  seemed  to  play  with  his  ma- 
terials until  they  yielded  what  he  wanted,  yet  the 
result  implies,  besides  cleverness  of  hand  and 
alertness  of  eye,  self-command,  stern  attention 
and  trained  memory.     In  his  power  of  holding  to 


n8     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 


a  first  visual  impression,  uncorrupted  by  subse- 
quent observations  and  reflections,  and  of  pre- 
senting this  impression  upon  canvas  in  all  its 
original  freshness  and  vigor,  Velasquez  has  had 
perhaps  no  equal  among  painters. 

The  portrait  of  the  little  princess,  figure  6,  gives 
another  instance  of  the  liking  of  Velasquez  for 
plenty  of  unaccented 
space  at  the  top  of  the 
canvas.  This  composi- 
tion further  illustrates 
some  of  the  difficulties 
with  which  the  court 
painter  contended,  and 
some  of  his  triumphs. 
Many  have  doubtless 
felt  almost  repelled  by 
this  picture  of  an  un- 
attractive child  in  a 
frightful  costume,  and 
they  have  wondered  at 
the  strange  preference  of 
the  copyists  so  often 
found  working  before  it. 
The  rigid  clothing  of  the 
like  a  doll,  her  help- 
on  her  hoop-skirt,  one 
the   other    trailing    a 


Figure  6. 
The  Infanta  in  Red. 

child  makes  her  stand 
less  little  hands  lying 
limply    holding    a    flower, 


great  filmy  handkerchief.  Yet  her  pose  is  as 
full  of  meaning  as  the  most  animated  gesture 
of  some  humbler  personage.  This  is  her  lot  in  life. 
To  stand  in  prim  composure  before  the  world; 
to  conceal  if  she  ever  is  so  ill-advised  as  to  feel,  an 
emotion;  royally  to  command  her  actions  and  her 


THE  ROYAL  ART  OF  SPAIN       119 

countenance,  though  her  heart  may  break  under 
that  tight  bodice.  The  painter  probably  was  not 
so  presuming  as  to  feel  any  sympathy  for  his  little 
model.  To  him  she  was  a  spot  of  colour.  He 
looked  upon  her  cherry-coloured  splendor  of  attire, 
and,  accepting  it,  had  crimson  hangings  placed 
behind  her  and  wrought  out  a  most  subtle,  shim- 
mering study  in  reds.  The  poor  child  painfully 
resembles  her  august  father,  the  heavy  line  of  the 
cheek,  the  full  pouting  lips,  the  heavy- lidded 
unshadowed  eyes,  and  the  high  forehead  and  light 
brown  hair.  Stevenson  says  of  this  work:  "No 
pupil  touched  the  smallest  accessory  of  tl  is  ex- 
traordinary costume;  lace,  ruffles,  embn  idery, 
every  inch  of  the  dress,  is  painted  by  Velasquez, 
with  a  running  slippery  touch  which  appeam  care- 
less near  at  hand,  but  which  at  the  focus  gives 
colour,  pattern,  sparkle,  and  underlying  form 
with  the  utmost  precision  and  completeness.  The 
shadow  behind  the  figure  is  aerial  in  quality,  deep 
but  not  heavy,  and  silvered  like  the  passages  in 
light,  so  that  black  would  tell  upon  it  as  a  rude 
brutality  of  tone."*  Another  critic  suggests: 
"Group  a  few  carnations  and  roses  in  a  bowl  of 
silver  and  you  get  a  hint  of  the  colour,  "f 

The  lofty  studio  of  Velasquez  which  is  seen  in 
his  great  masterpiece  called  "The  Maids  of 
Honor"  shows  the  manner  of  lighting.  The  light 
falls  from  a  high  window  at  the  side  upon  the 
attendant  ladies,  and  chiefly  on  the  little  princess, 
a  shining  spot  framed  in  by  the  shadowy  depths 
of  the  vast  apartment.     Modern  painters  have 

*Stevenson,  op.  cit.  p.  89. 
fRicketts,  "The  Prado,"  p.  96. 


120    MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

delighted  to  study  these  and,  indeed,  all  the  works 
of  Velasquez  and  to  find  fresh  inspiration  in  his 
rendering  of  "values."  The  painter's  use  of  this 
expression  is  not  easy  to  explain.  It  refers  to  the 
force  or  "value"  of  a  colour  in  its  environment, 
that  is,  as  affected  by  the  surrounding  colours  and 
by  the  light.  Observing,  for  instance,  the  folds 
of  some  bright  coloured  silk  placed  near  a  window 
where  the  light  strikes  it  aslant,  even  untrained 
eyes  may  perceive  that  the  colour  is  modified  and 
in  places  quite  altered  as  the  surfaces  of  the  folds 
turn  in  varying  angles  toward  or  from  the  light. 
The  value  of  a  colour  also  depends  on  its  distance 
from  the  observer.  The  truth  of  this  may  be 
tested  in  a  large  hall  or  church  where  there  are  a 
number  of  persons  dressed  in  the  same  colour. 
The  modifications  of  white  are  perhaps  the  sim- 
plest for  study.  A  gown  of  white  on  a  person 
stationed  near  a  window  will  show  two  distinct 
values,  one  very  bright  and  the  other  deeply 
shadowed.  Another  on  a  figure  opposite  the  light 
and  at  some  distance  from  the  observer  will  seem 
all  silvery  gray;  another  similarly  placed,  but  more 
distant,  will  appear  a  darker  grayish  green.  A 
figure  in  white  standing  against  the  light  of  an 
open  door  will  form  a  dark  silhouette,  pinkish  or 
purplish  gray,  perhaps,  according  to  the  colour 
and  brightness  of  the  lighted  spaces  which  the 
door  frames  in.  In  a  similar  way  the  blacks  will 
vary  according  to  their  relation  to  the  light  and 
their  distance  from  the  observer.  Where  the 
whites  have  become  gray-green,  the  blacks  also 
will  appear  grayish  and  the  contrast  between 
black  and  white  will  be  far  less  strong  than  in  a 


THE   ROYAL   ART   OF   SPAIN      121 

brighter  light  and  nearer  view.  Both  white  and 
black  will  be  modified  also  by  neighboring  colours. 
This  it  may  be  more  difficult  to  perceive.  Bright 
colours  repeated  often  in  the  costumes  of  persons 
in  a  large  interior  may  be  studied  in  the  same  way. 
Though  the  secret  of  Velasquez  is  not  easy  to 
catch,  these  observations  will  help  one  to  under- 
stand why,  in  portraits  of  the  king,  he  painted 
white  ruffs  a  silvery  gray  and  some  of  the  black 
surfaces  in  silvery  shades  which  are  not  strongly 
contrasted  with  the  white. 

The  practice  of  Velasquez  completely  over- 
throws the  theories  of  the  early  Italian  painters. 
Their  little  pots  of  colour,  one  pure,  one  mixed 
with  one  part  white  and  one  mixed  with  two 
parts  white,  are  set  aside  forever.  And  yet  these 
"primitives"  were  not  wholly  wrong,  and  it  may 
be  that  even  Velasquez  owed  them  some  debt. 
They  were  aiming  at  an  ideal  perfection  of  execu- 
tion, Velasquez  at  a  true  and  powerful  record  of  a 
momentary  visual  impression.  In  their  little 
tempera  pictures,  they  seemed  to  bring  the  figures 
forward  close  to  the  eye  to  be  looked  at  as  one 
looks  into  the  heart  of  a  rose;  Velasquez  built  his 
picture  back  in  atmospheric  depths  behind  the 
frame  through  which  one  looks  as  through  an  open 
doorway.  They  saw  the  face  of  saint  and  angel 
as  one  sees  a  fair  child  standing  so  near  that  every 
delicate  detail  is  seen,  the  clear  iris  with  its  dark 
outer  rim,  the  fringe  of  eyelashes,  the  soft  locks  of 
golden  hair  with  countless  shining  threads.  Velas- 
quez saw  his  little  prince  standing  out  in  free  air, 
a  part  of  the  visible  world,  the  light  playing  upon 
his  sturdy  form  in  its  true  measure  as  it  plays  on 


122     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

hills  and  trees.  Every  work  of  art  thus  isolates  a 
few  impressions  to  make  them  more  vivid;  and 
the  brotherhood  of  painters,  early  and  late,  widely 
as  they  differ  in  their  visions  and  their  interests, 
are  linked  together  by  their  sincerity  of  purpose, 
by  their  eager  choice  of  "some  part  of  the  world 
of  sight  to  insist  upon  and  to  delight  in." 


OUTLINES  AND  NOTES 


PAINTERS  MENTIONED  IN  TEXT     125 


O 


£.2 


^  j  j? 

O    I 
<*-   3  t^ 


a 


J4 
o 

W       -*  o 

3^  &t 

tJJL  «<*> 


c  T 

60  M 

3 


3^ 
0.7 

1^ 


s  o 


^vo      . 


.-.  c->    ^"£   fa  3"  "S 


vrj   ^-j    O 


•c  I  S 


3? 


a 


* 


60  •«♦■ 

3  *■* 

u 

<u 

fa 


>J 

c* 

g 

z 

U1 

w 
u 

> 

q3 

! 

aS  QO 
fa 


M  Tj-      O    UT)  —     t^   .5 


^  1  ft  I   ^ 

J^^O  ^oo    Coo  M 
•^  ^    o  ^  "*£  **">    o 

£  M  J  M    «  "  "g 


t^  ^  VO 

(U      kH 

i   o  o 
»  a,  tj- 


d  T 


fa 


X 


o<!> 


3 

O      .    ._T 

.    *t3    f-s.    3          ._T     .  -     . 

O    3   c»>  •£   -$-  T3  ^O  '-S  vo 

-4  S  7  o  r  o  1 

8«f  So  0" 

C   w    T>   M  3   " 

3            as  60 

£      H  < 


■A 


T3  \o 

3^ 


O 
60^ 

2  ~ 


s3 


126     MASTERPIECES  OF   PAINTING 


2 

+-> 

_y 

-a  §vd                 a          J 

<D    CO 

H 

oj   On 

<z> 

W    6c ur>                         to               "«*• 

^ 

5 

fc 

°co,i     <u            w       u  i 

Oh 

CO 

g.2*     o*           u.      q  $ 

(J 

J«    -   Jj                      g" 

<u                          ctj 

2 

(U               >                         > 

* 

# 

+J-  rt 

C/5  C3 

*s  w 

e* 

Sit 

u    1 

no                 Qt)       o           r* 

no, 
1-166 

UTCH. 

Honth 

rardo 
>> 
> 
0-1651 

andt, 
7-166 

^  Is- 

C  00 

•r!   On         Q             <u<"0i-0 
JJ    vo                 T3  ,r2   £   i-n    ,0  NO 

'3 

O 

c   ** 

o 
Q 

S"        g9|~  §- 

0      3-2  « 

1 

1* 

0 

2 

£4 

u.      . 

Eh 

CO   to 

■»!■ 

to 

Z 

2$         "flj       ~NO 

3       bo.2  « 
<;       c  sol 

(-,          ctf    60  On 

—  vn 

io 

W 

.2~7 

60  "* 

u 

60  On 

5       -3    rt  no 
u    rt  >H 

<U    "<*■ 

1— ( 

*T3    M 

Ui      M 

> 

< 

* 

3 

1 

is 

>H 

& 

0" 

g 

0 

s 

3 

< 

^7     2   7      ukh           ^             « 

o 

> 

_£  H-pq  tC    60^-    g  -*^J  "* 

XJ 

8     £ 

.2         +J          rt 

9    f    * 

_2 

m 

u 

a 

fl 

-a 

4-> 
-1 

6 

xi 

-1 

u 

c, 

0 

2 

■~ 

0 

tt 

0 

'O 

> 

3 

T3 

p 

0 

£ 

3 

B' 

T) 

0 

^J 

& 

fl 

O 

a 

W-, 

a 

0 

<n 

V 

a-* 

CVS 

4-J 

c 
c 

O 

<L> 

ea 

QQ 

II.    NOTES  ON  THE  PAINTERS 

THE  PERIOD  AND  SCHOOL  OF  EACH  MASTER  WHOSE 
WORK    IS    ILLUSTRATED    IN    THE    TEXT,    WITH 
BRIEF      CHARACTERIZATION      FROM     SOME 
CRITIC    AND    MENTION    OF    A    FEW 
IMPORTANT    WORKS. 

Plate  I 

Giotto  di  Bondone,  Florentine  School,  1266?- 
1337,  pupil,  according  to  the  old  stories,  of 
Cimabue. 
In  speaking  of  the  simplicity  and  calmness  of 
Giotto's  work  as  distinguished  from  modern  senti- 
ment which  "remains  unawakened  except  by  the 
violences  of  gaiety  or  gloom,"  Ruskin  commends 
the  early  work  which  he  was  the  first  among 
modern  critics  to  esteem  for  its  real  power:  "It 
ought  not,  therefore,  to  be  without  a  respectful 
admiration  that  we  find  the  masters  of  the  four- 
teenth century  dwelling  on  moments  of  the  most 
subdued  and  tender  feeling,  and  leaving  the  spec- 
tator to  trace  the  undercurrents  of  thought  which 
link  them  with  future  events  of  mightier  interest, 
and  fill  with  a  prophetic  power  and  mystery  scenes 
in  themselves  so  simple  as  the  meeting  of  a  master 
with  his  herdsmen  among  the  hills,  or  the  return 
of  a  betrothed  virgin  to  her  house." — Giotto  and 
his  Works  in  Padua. 

127 


128     MASTERPIECES    OF  PAINTING 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Assisi,  Church  of  St.  Francis,  frescoes. 

Lower  Church,  right  transept,  Scenes  from 
the  Life  of  Christ  and  of  the  Virgin ; Vaulting 
above  High  Altar  and  Tomb  of  St.  Francis, 
Allegories  illustrating  the  Vows  of  St. 
Francis,  Obedience,  Chastity  and  Poverty, 
and  the  Glorification  of  St.  Francis. 
Upper  Church,  nave,  Scenes  from  the  Life  of 
St.  Francis  (in  part). 
Padua,  Arena  Chapel,  frescoes. 

Scenes  from  the  Life  of  Christ  and  of  the 
Virgin,  Christ    enthroned   in   Glory,    Last 
Judgment,  Symbolic  Figures. 
Florence,  Santa  Croce,  frescoes. 
Bardi  Chapel,  Life  of  St.  Francis. 
Peruzzi  Chapel,  Scenes  from  the  Lives  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist  and  St.  John  the  Evange- 
list. 

Plate  2. 

Benozzo  Gozzoli,  Florentine  School,  1 424-1 498, 
pupil  of  Fra  Angelico. 
"La  posterite  ne  saurait  refuser  son  admiration, 
sa  gratitude,  a  l'enchanteur  qui  lui  a  legue  et  de 
si  vivantes  images  de  la  societe  de  son  temps  et 
tant  de  figures  ravissantes,  exquises,  faites  pour 
charmer  a  jamais  les  amis  du  beau." — Miintz, 
VAge  d'Or,  p.  628. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Montefalco,  San  Francesco,  frescoes  in  Choir. 
Scenes  from  the  Life  of  St.  Francis. 


NOTES    ON    THE    PAINTERS       129 

San   Fortunato,  Madonna   with   Saints   and 
Angels. 
San   Gimignano,    Sant'   Agostino,    frescoes   in 
Choir. 
Scenes  from  the  Life  of  St.  Augustine. 
*    Florence,  Palazzo  Riccardi  (once  Medici),  fres- 
coes in  Chapel. 
Procession  of  the  Three    Kings,    Shepherds, 
Angels. 
Pisa,  Campo  Santo,  frescoes. 

Scenes  from  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 

Plate    1 

Luca    Signorelli    of    Cortona,    Umbro-Tuscan 
School,  1441-1523,  pupil  of  Piero  della  Fran- 
cesca,  influenced  by  Antonio  Pollaiuolo. 
"Signorelli's  greatest  gift  to  us  is  his  conception 
of  humanity,  not  only  of  its  robust  strength,  but 
of  its  mental  vigour.     His  figures  are  solemn,  but 
with  a  solemnity  untainted  with  sadness,  con- 
scious only  of  the  dignity  of  the  human  race,  its 
significance  and  responsibilities. " — Cruttzvell,  Sig- 
norelli, p.  118. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Orvieto,  Cathedral,  Chapel  of  the  Madonna  di 
San  Brizio,  frescoes. 
The  walls  and  part  of  the  vaulting. 
Antichrist,  Signs  of  the  End  of  the  World, 
the  Resurrection,  the  Damned,  the  Blessed, 
Angels,  Patriarchs,  Virgin  Saints. 
Monte  Oliveto,  Cloisters,  frescoes. 
Scenes  from  the  Life  of  St.  Benedict. 


130     MASTERPIECES  OF   PAINTING 

Cortona,  San  Niccolo,  Pieta. 

Perugia,  Cathedral,  Winter  Chapel,  Madonna 

of  Sant'  Onofrio. 
Florence,  Uffizi,  Holy  Family,  tondo. 

Plate  4 

Fra  Filippo  Lippi,  Florentine  School,  1406-1469, 
pupil,  it  is  now  thought,  of  Don  Lorenzo 
Monaco,   influenced  by  Masaccio  and   Fra 
Angelico. 
Strutt  says  of  Fra  Filippo  that  he  "could  even 
attain,  at  times,  a  degree  of  perfection  absolutely 
incompatible  with  that  utter  baseness  of  soul  of 
which  he  is  accused,  a  grandeur  of  conception  and 
a  technical  skill  which  reveal  him  to  us  as  the  con- 
necting link  between  Masaccio  and  Raphael  and 
as  the  truest  herald  of  the  Renaissance." — Fra 
Filippo  Lippi,  p.  6. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Prato,  Cathedral,  frescoes  in  the  Choir. 

Scenes  from  the  Lives  of  St.  John  the  Baptist 
and  St.  Stephen. 
Spoleto,  Cathedral,  frescoes  on  walls  and  vault- 
ing of  Apse. 
Coronation  of  the  Virgin  and  Scenes  from  her 
Life,  unfinished  at  his  death. 
Florence,  Accademia,  Coronation  of  the  Virgin, 
several  other  works. 
Pitti,  Madonna  and  Child. 
Uffizi,  Madonna  and  Child  with  child-angels. 
Paris,    Louvre,    Madonna     and    Child     with 
angels. 


NOTES    ON    THE    PAINTERS      131 

London,      National     Gallery,     Annunciation, 
Saints,  Vision  of  St.  Bernard. 

Plate  5 

Carlo    Crivelli,   Venetian    School,    1430-1493, 
pupil  of  Antonio  da  Murano  and  of  Squar- 
cione.     Most  of  his  life  was  spent  in  the 
little  cities  of  the  Marches  of  Ancona. 
Berenson   says   of   the    "St.   George   and   the 
Dragon,"  now  belonging  to  Mrs.  Gardner's  col- 
lection, Fenway  Court,  Boston,  that  in  this  work, 
"Crivelli,  in  his  quality  of  design,  in  the  enamel 
of  his  surface,  and  in  the  energy  of  his  line,  ap- 
proaches closer  than  any  other  Occidental  artist 
to  what  is  the  supreme  quality  of  Japanese  art, 
particularly  as  manifested  in  lacquer,"  and  that 
it  has  "besides  all  this  charm  as  pattern"  "that 
feeling  of  the  fairy  tale     .     .     which  makes  im- 
perative the  sky  of  gold. " — Study  and  Criticism,  /, 
p.  103. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

London,  National  Gallery,  besides  the  picture 
shown  in  plate  5, 
Great  Ancona  with  three  rows  of  panels. 
Annunciation. 
Milan,  Brera,  Madonna  and  Child  with  Saints, 
triptych. 
Madonna  and  Child,  garland  of  fruit  about 
the  throne. 


132    MASTERPIECES   OF   PAINTING 

Plate  6 

Hugo  van  der  Goes  of  Ghent,  Flemish  School, 
1430-1482,  master  unknown. 

"This  picture  of  Master  Hugo's  would  be  of 
untold  value  for  one  thing  alone,  even  if  it  pos- 
sessed no  other  virtues:  it  is  the  first  picture  which 
makes  us  acquainted  with  the  mediaeval  peasantry. 

.  .  Among  the  multitude  of  Golden-Fleeced 
heroes,  Hanseatic  merchants,  Lords,  Counts, 
Dukes,  and  Popes,  whose  likenesses  we  possess,     . 

.  .  these  three  old  shepherds  are  the  only 
representatives  of  the  far  larger  and  more  import- 
ant body  of  silent  sufferers  and  silent  workers  who 
kept  the  world  a-going  .  .  strongly  intelligent 
creatures,  capable  of  wide-mouthed  wonder,  of 
reverent  delight — human  to  the  uttermost,  warm 
of  heart  and  keen  of  eye,  though  coarse  in  manner 
and  slow  of  utterance." — Conway,  Early  Flemish 
Artists,  pp.  189,  191. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Florence,  Uffizi,  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds, 
with  the  donor,  Tommaso  Portinari,  his  fami- 
ly, and  patron  saints,  painted  for  the  Hospital 
of  Santa  Maria  Nuova,  triptych. 

Berlin  Museum,  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds. 

Plate  7 

Giorgione    of    Castelfranco,    Venetian    School, 
1477-1511,  pupil  of  Giovanni  Bellini. 
"He  so  transformed  the  appearance  of  all  things, 
showing  the  world  and  nature  under  such  a  new 


NOTES    ON    THE    PAINTERS       133 

and  lovely  aspect  that  no  man  could  venture  any- 
longer  to  work  after  the  old  method.  .  .  Even 
the  venerable  Giovanni  Bellini,  then  more  than 
seventy  years  old  but  still  retaining  his  vigour, 
accepted  the  challenge  of  his  talented  pupil  and, 
in  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life,  entirely  transformed 
his  method  as  a  painter.  The  younger  masters, 
Giorgione's  fellow  workers,  followed  with  delight 
the  new  road  now  opened  before  them.  They 
gazed  on  the  world  with  his  eyes,  imbued  their 
works  with  his  feeling,  his  subjects  inspired  them 
and  incited  them  to  analogous  creations — songs 
in  praise  of  youth  and  beauty,  sunshine  and 
nature." — Gronau,   Titian,  p.  II. 

"He  is  the  Theocritus  of  Italian  painting  and 
his  idyls  have  the  largeness  and  simplicity  of  classic 
conception;  though  his  pictures  are  full  of  a 
thoughtful  and  melancholy  charm,  they  are  never- 
theless, robust  and  healthy  in  their  golden  warmth 
of  tone." — B  lash  field,  in  his  "  Vasari,"  III,  p.  12. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Castelfranco,Ven.  Cathedral,  Madonna  between 

SS.  Francis  and  Liberale. 
Florence,  Uffizi,  Knight  of  Malta. 
Madrid,  Prado,  Madonna  with  SS.  Roch  and 

Anthony. 
Paris,  Louvre,  Fete  Champetre. 
Hampton  Court,  Shepherd  Boy. 


134     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

Plate  8 

Simone  Martini,  School  of  Siena,  1 284-1 344, 
pupil  of  Duccio  of  Siena. 
"How  subtle  the  beauty,  how  dainty  the  move- 
ments, how  sweet  the  olive  in  the  Uffizi  'Annuncia- 
tion!' As  you  look  at  the  angel's  mantle  it  is  as  if 
you  were  seeing  the  young  sunlight  on  driven 
snow.  Simone  is  the  most  lovable  of  all  the 
Italian  artists  before  the  Renaissance." — Berenson, 
Central  Italian  Painters,  p.  47. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Siena,  Palazzo  Pubblico,  frescoes. 

Madonna  enthroned  with  Saints  and  Angels, 

called  "La  Maesta." 
Equestrian  Portrait  of  Guidoriccio  da  Fog- 
liano. 
Assisi,  Lower  Church  of  St.  Francis,  Chapel  of 
St.  Martin. 
Scenes  from  the  Life  of  St.  Martin. 
Florence,  Uffizi,  Annunciation,  panel. 
Naples,   San   Lorenzo,   St.   Louis  of  Toulouse 
crowning  his  brother  King  Robert. 

Plate  9 

Perugino  (Pietro  Vannucci  of  Perugia),  Umbrian 
School,  1446-1523,  pupil  of  Fiorenzo  di  Loren- 
zo, influenced  by  Piero  della  Francesca  and 
later  by  Florentine  masters. 
In  speaking  of  the  charm  of  the  wide  Umbrian 
landscape    as    seen    in    Perugino's    backgrounds, 
Williamson  says:  "It  is  in  all  his  works,  and  as 


NOTES    ON    THE    PAINTERS      135 

one  gazes  out  upon  this  'buoyant  spaciousness'  of 
view,  the  wondrous  creatures  of  his  conceptions, 
holy  women,  saints,  prophets,  apostles,  religious 
guilds,  praying  populace,  seem  once  more  to 
people  the  earth,  and  away  in  the  eternal  im- 
measurable sky  can  be  seen  the  Assumption,  the 
angels,  the  mandorla  of  cherub  faces,  the  comfort- 
ing seraphim  and  the  glowing  cherubim,  as  Peru- 
gino  saw  them,  and  the  sky  is  again  the  scene  of 
the  glories  which  faith  enabled  Perugino  to  visual- 
ize and  depict." — Williamson,  Perugino,  p.  16. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Perugia,  Gallery,  many  altarpieces. 
Nativity,  fresco. 
Sala  del  Cambio,  frescoes. 
Florence,    Sta.    Maria   Maddalena    dei    Pazzi, 
Crucifixion,  fresco. 
Pitti,  The  Pieta. 
Rome,  Villa  Albani,  polyptych. 

Sistine  Chapel,  Christ  giving  the  Keys  to  St. 
Peter,  fresco. 
London,   National  Gallery,  Certosa  Altarpiece. 


Plate  10 

Andrea  Mantegna,  Paduan  School,  1431-1506, 
pupil  of  Squarcione,  influenced  by  Donatello 
and  by  his  brother-in-law,   Giovanni  Bellini. 
"His  were  the  Roman  virtues — sobriety,  digni- 
ty, self-restraint,  discipline,  and  certain  master- 
liness, as  indescribable  as  it  is  impressive — and  to 
those  who  appreciate  austere  beauty  and  the  pure 


136     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

harmonies  of  exquisite  lines  Mantegna's  art  will 
always  appeal. " — Blashfield  in  his  "  Vasari"  II ', 
p.  276. 

Examples  of  his  work: 
Mantua,    Castello,   Gonzaga,    frescoes   in   the 

Camera  degli  Sposi. 
Verona,  San   Zeno,  Madonna  enthroned  with 

Saints. 
Florence,  Uffizi,  Adoration  of  Magi,  with  Cir- 
cumcision and  Ascension,  triptych. 
Padua,   Eremitani,  frescoes  in  the  Chapel  of 

SS.  James  and  Christopher. 
Paris,  Louvre,  Madonna  della  Vittoria. 

Calvary,  panel  from  San  Zeno  predella. 
London,  National  Gallery,  Madonna  and  Saints. 
Hampton  Court,  Triumph  of  Caesar,  made  for 

the  theater  of  the  Castle  of  Mantua. 
Mantegna  seems  sometimes  to  have  painted  in 
tempera  upon  dry  plaster,  instead  of  working  in 
"buon  fresco." — See  Kristeller,  Mantegna,  p.  263. 

Plate  11 

Giovanni  Bellini,  Venetian  School,  1428?-! 5 16, 
pupil  of  Jacopo  Bellini,  his  father,  influenced 
by  his  brother,  Gentile,  and  by  his  brother- 
in-law,  Mantegna  of  Padua. 
"A  wonderful  emotional  feeling  is  imparted  to 
us  by  these  altarpieces  of  Giovanni  Bellini's  where 
we  see  a  number  of  saints  collected  together  in  a 
noble  temple,  listening  in  silent  devotion  to  the 
sound  of  instruments  which  angel-boys  are  play- 
ing at  the  feet  of  the  Madonna.     Emotion  was 


NOTES    ON    THE    PAINTERS      137 

something  new  to  Venetian  art,  and  it  was  the 
gift  which  Giovanni  Bellini  bequeathed  to  his 
fellow  countrymen." — Gronau,  Titian. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Venice,   Church  of  the   Frari,   Madonna   and 
Saints,  triptych. 
Accademia,  Madonna  with  St.  Job. 
San  Zaccaria,  Madonna  and  Saints. 
San   Giovanni    Crisostomo,  St.  John    Chry- 
sostom,  St.  Christopher  and  St.  Augustine. 

Plate  12 

Masaccio,  Florentine  School,  1401-1428,  pupil  of 
Masolino. 
"It  was  this  poor  young  man,  little  esteemed 
by  his  compatriots  (except  by  a  few  artists),  who 
summing  up  upon  some  square  yards  of  wall  all 
the  progress  accomplished  by  individual  effort 
during  a  century,  with  one  bold  stroke  marked 
out  anew  the  destiny  of  Italian  genius,  setting  it 
again,  and  with  all  the  force  of  perfected  tech- 
nique, in  the  broad  and  straight  path  opened  by 
Giotto.  .  .  Halfway  between  Giotto  and  Ra- 
phael, and  bearing  like  them  a  great  light  in  his 
hands,  Masaccio  is  true  heir  of  the  one  and  ancestor 
of  the  other. " — Lafenestre,  La  Peinture  Italienne, 
p.  164. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Florence,   Church  of  the  Carmine,   Brancacci 
Chapel,  frescoes. 
Expulsion   from   Paradise,   Tribute   Money, 


138    MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

SS.  Peter  and  John  healing  the  sick,  St. 
Peter  baptising,  SS.  Peter  and  John  giving 
alms,  Raising  of  the  King's  Son,  part. 
Sta.  Maria  Novella,  The  Trinity,  entrance 
wall. 

Plate  is 

Sandro  Botticelli,  Florentine  School,  1446-1510, 
pupil  of  Fra  Filippo  Lippi. 
"Botticelli  lived  in  a  generation  of  naturalists, 
and  he  might  have  been  a  mere  naturalist  among 
them.  There  are  traces  enough  in  his  work  of 
that  alert  sense  of  outward  things,  which  in  pic- 
tures of  that  period,  fills  the  lawns  with  delicate 
living  creatures,  and  the  hillsides  with  pools  of 
water,  and  the  pools  of  water  with  flowering  reeds. 
But  this  was  not  enough  for  him;  he  is  a  visionary 
painter,  and  in  his  visionariness  he  resembles 
Dante." — Pater,  The  Renaissance,  p.  55. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Rome,  Sistine  Chapel,  Scenes  from  the  Life  of 
Moses,  Destruction  of  Korah,  Purifica- 
tion of  the  Leper  and  the  Temptation  of 
Christ,  frescoes. 
Florence,  Accademia,  Primavera. 

Madonna  with  Saints  and  Angels. 
Uffizi,  Birth  of  Venus. 
Magnificat. 

Madonna  of  the  Pomegranate. 
Adoration  of  the  Magi. 
Palazzo  Pitti,  Pallas  and  the  Centaur. 
London,  National  Gallery,  Mars  and  Venus. 
Adoration  of  the  Magi. 


NOTES    ON    THE    PAINTERS      139 

Plate  14 

Michelangelo  Buonarroti,  Florentine  School, 
1475-1564,  pupil  of  Ghirlandajo,  influenced 
by  Signorelli. 
Of  the  Sistine  Vaulting:  "We  think  of  this  great 
work  as  the  flowering  of  the  Renaissance.  It  is  in 
reality  the  last  expression  of  the  impulse  and 
feeling  of  mediaeval  Europe.  But  it  is  expressed 
in  a  new  rhythm  of  form,  that  beats  through 
every  figure,  and  with  a  knowledge  of  structure 
and  a  representation  unknown  before.  The  ex- 
traordinary love  of  beauty  that  possessed  the 
artist,  his  sensitiveness  to  the  wonders  of  the 
human  form,  cover  the  deeper  feelings  which  he 
had  in  common  with  the  men  of  a  more  intense 
past." — La  Farge,  Great  Masters,  p.  34. 

Examples  of  his  painting: 

Rome,  Sistine  Chapel,  frescoes  of  the  Vaulting, 

and  "Last  Judgment"  on  the  end  wall. 
Florence,  Uffizi,  Madonna  of  the  Doni  Family, 

tondo. 

Plate  1$ 

Titian,  Venetian  School,  1477  (?)-i576,  pupil  of 
Giovanni    and    perhaps  of   Gentile    Bellini, 
influenced  by  Giorgione. 
"Ce  que  fut  Leonard  de  Vinci  a  Milan,  ce  que 
fut  Raphael  a  Rome,  Titien  Pest  a  Venise;  non 
seulement  il  y  resume,  dans  une  suite  d'oeuvres 
victorieuses,  tous  les  efforts  accumules  des  genera- 
tions anterieures,  mais  il  y  ouvre   avec  eclat  une 


i4o    MASTERPIECES   OF   PAINTING 

ere  nouvelle  d'activite  imprevue.  .  .  .  Des 
genies,  si  bien  equilibres  et  si  sains,  qui  possedent 
une  intelligence  egale  de  la  verite  et  de  la  beaute, 
qui  enchantent  l'imagination  sans  la  troubler,  qui 
se  servent  de  l'art  pour  faire  aimer  la  vie,  sont, 
en  definitive,  la  force  de  l'humanite  et  la  consola- 
tion de  l'histoire. " — Lafenestre,  Titien,  Preface. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Venice,  Sta.  Maria  Gloriosa  dei  Frari,  Madonna 
of  the  Pesaro  Family.  Academy,  Assump- 
tion, Presentation  of  Virgin  in  the  Temple. 

Madrid,  Prado,  Charles  V  at  the  Battle  of  Muhl- 
berg, 
A  Bacchanal,  and  many  others. 

Rome,  Borghese  Gallery,  Sacred  and  Profane 
Love. 

Florence,  Pitti,  Portrait  of  Pietro  Aretino, 
Portrait  of  a  Man,  called  "The  Young  Eng- 
lishman, "  or  "The  Duke  of  Norfolk." 

London,  National  Gallery,  Bacchus  and  Ariadne, 
Holy  Family  with  Shepherd. 

Paris,  Louvre,  Man  with  the  Glove,  Supper  at 
Emmaus,  and  many  others. 

Plate  16 

Andrea  del  Sarto,  Florentine  School,  1486-153 1, 

pupil  of  Piero  di  Cosimo,  influenced  by  Fra 

Bartolommeo,  Michelangelo,  and  Leonardo. 

"His  art  is  to  me  as  the  Tuscan  April  in  its 

temperate  days,  fresh  and  tender  and  clear,  but 

lulled  and  kindled  by  such  air  and  light  as  fills 

the  life  of  the  growing  year  with  fire. " — Algernon 


NOTES    ON    THE    PAINTERS       141 

Charles  Swinburne,  Essays  and  Studies,  quoted  in 
Masters  in  Art,  October,  igoi. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Florence,  Cloister  of  the  Scalzo,  Scenes  from  the 
Life  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  frescoes  in 
monochrome. 
SS.  Annunziata,   Birth  of  the  Virgin,  Ma- 
donna del  Sacco,  frescoes. 
Convent  of  San  Salvi,  Last  Supper. 
Pitti,  Annunciation  with  two  angels,  Disputa. 
Uffizi,  Madonna  of  the  Harpies,    St.  James 
blessing  little  children. 
London,  National  Gallery,  Portrait  of  a  Sculp- 
tor. 
Paris,  Louvre,  Holy  Family  with  angels  singing, 
Charity. 

Plate  1  y 

Nicholas  Maes  (Maas),  Dutch  School,  1632- 
1693,  pupil  of  Rembrandt. 
"It  is  only  in  such  subjects  as  Mr.  Cole  has 
engraved  (The  Spinner,  Amsterdam)  that  we  see 
the  poetic  side  of  Maes.  A  picturesque  interior, 
walls  dashed  with  light  and  shadow,  a  figure  or 
two,  rich  color,  and  a  poetic  sentiment  of  quiet 
home  life,  were  things  that  evidently  appealed  to 
him.  It  was  a  genre  of  his  own,  and  he  painted 
it  best  because  he  loved  it  best.  .  .  ItisMaes's 
own,  the  mark  of  his  individuality  that  kept  him 
from  being  a  mere  echo  of  Rembrandt,  and  raised 
him  to  the  rank  of  a  creative  artist." — /.  C.  van 
Dyke,  Old  Dutch  and  Flemish  Masters,  p.  60. 


142     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Brussels,  Royal  Gallery,  Old  Woman  reading, 
and  the  pictures  mentioned  in  the  text  are 
in  his  best  style. 


Plate  18 

Rembrandt  van  Rijn,  Dutch  School,  1607-1669, 
pupil  of  Van  Swanenburch  and  Lastman. 
"He  remains  the  great  exponent  of  the  pity 
and  tenderness  of  Bible  story,  of  its  being  of  all 
times,  and  a  synopsis  of  human  life;  and  he  re- 
mains, as  well,  the  master  of  many  realities,  the 
poet  of  the  mystery  of  light,  and  the  painter  of  the 
individual  human  soul. " — La  Farge,  Great  Masters, 
p.  118. 

Examples  of  his  work: 

Amsterdam,    Ryks   Museum,    Syndics   of   the 

Cloth  Guild,  The  "Night  Watch. " 
Hague,  Royal  Museum,  The  Anatomy  Lesson. 
Paris,  Louvre,  The  Supper  at  Emmaus,  Tobias 

and  the  Angel. 
London,   National  Gallery,   Adoration  of  the 

Shepherds,    Woman   taken    in    Adultery, 

Portrait  of  an  Old  Lady. 


Plate  iq 

Velasquez,  Spanish  School,  1 599-1660,  pupil  of 
Pacheco,  his  father-in-law. 
"From  his  earliest  and  most  painstaking  works, 
which  are  dull  in  tone  and  heavy  in  handling  to 


NOTES    ON    THE    PAINTERS      143 

his  last  and  most  brilliant  achievements,  we  note 
the  effort  towards  perfection  and  conciseness,  the 
sacrifice  of  whatever  is  digressive  or  superfluous. 
His  handling — now  of  an  aerial  delicacy,  now  solid 
and  plastic — follows  closely  upon  his  vision;  an 
ever-searching  brush  chastens  or  corrects  or  ampli- 
fies the  contour;  he  repeatedly  paints  out  with 
bold  broken  touches  the  delicate  accessory  which 
has  become  too  noticeable. " — Ricketts,  The  Prado, 
p.  42. 

Examples  of  his  work: 
Madrid,  Prado,  The  Tapestry  Weavers,    The 
Maids  of  Honor,  The  Surrender  of  Breda,  The 
Forge  of  Vulcan,  and,  indeed  a   great  gal- 
lery filled  with  masterpieces. 
Paris,  Louvre,  The  Infanta  Margarita,    King 

Philip  IV. 
London,  National  Gallery,  Portrait  of  an  Ad- 
miral, Christ  at  the  Column,  Venus  with  a 
Mirror. 


READING   LIST 

The  books  here  mentioned  are  usually  accessible 
in  general  libraries  or  easily  obtained  through 
booksellers.  A  few  works  more  rare  and  costly 
have  been  included.  For  more  thorough  study 
the  bibliographies  should  be  consulted. 
Bibliography. 

Reinach,  Salomon.     Story  of  art  Through- 
out the  Ages.     Florence  Simmonds,  trans- 
lator.    Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York, 
1904. 
At  the  end  of  each  chapter  is  a   classified  bibli- 
graphy  of  books   and  periodicals.     The  French 
edition  of  this  work,  called  "Apollo"  (Hachette 
&  Cie.,  1905),  will  be  preferred  by  travellers  to 
whom  French  presents  no  difficulties.     It  is  very 
compact  in  form. 

Sturgis,  Russell,  and  Krehbiel,  H.  E. 
Annotated  Bibliography  of  Fine  Art. 
The  Library  Bureau,  New  York,  Boston, 
1897. 
Blashfield's  Vasari,  see  below.  Volume 
IV  of  this  work  contains  an  annotated 
bibliography  of  the  most  important  books 
and  periodicals  relating  to  Italian  Art  to 
the  year  1 896. 

144 


READING  LIST  145 

General  Works,  History  of  Painting. 

Von  Mach,  Edmund.     Outlines  of  the  His- 
tory of   Painting.     Ginn   &   Company, 
Boston,  1906. 
Muther,    Richard.     History   of    Painting. 
Translated  by  George  Kriehn.     G.  P.  Put- 
nam &  Sons,  New  York,  1906. 
Part  I  consists  of  Tables  giving  the  classification 
of  painters  according  to  school  and  period;  Part 
II  is  an  alphabetical  list  of  artists  with  pronounc- 
ing vocabulary   and  Part  III  is  a  brief  account  of 
the  history  of  painting  from  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth   century   of  the   Christian   era.     The 
last  chapter  is  on  Japanese  painting. 

Reinach  Salomon.  Story  of  Art  Through- 
out the  Ages.     See  above. 

Van  Dyke,  J.  C.  Text-Book  of  the  History 
of  Painting.  Longmans,  Green  &  Co., 
New  York. 

Bryan,  Michael.  Dictionary  of  Painters 
and  Engravers.  Edited  by  G.  C.  Wil- 
liamson. Geo.  Bell  &  Sons,  London,  1903- 
1905.     Five  Volumes. 

General  Works,  Study  of  Paintings,  Apprecia- 
tion, Criticism,  and  Technique. 

La  Farge,  John.  Great  Masters.  Mc- 
Clure,  Phillips  &  Co.,  New  York,  1904. 

La  Farge,  John.  Considerations  on  Paint- 
ing. Lectures  given  in  the  Metropolitan 
Museum,  New  York,  in  1893.  Macmillan 
&  Co.,  NewVYork  and  London,  1901. 


146     MASTERPIECES   OF   PAINTING 

Van  Dyke,  J.  C.     The  Meaning  of  Pictures. 
Six  lectures  given  for  Columbia  University  at 
the  Metropolitan  Museum,  New  York, 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1903. 

Ricketts,  Charles  S.  The  Prado  and  its 
Masterpieces.  E.  P.  Dutton,  1903.  Beau- 
tiful and  costly. 

Reinach,    Salomon.     Repertoire    de    Pein- 

TURES  DU  MOYEN  Age  ET  DE  LA  RENAISSANCE 

(1280- 1 580),  Tome  I.  This  work  is  com- 
posed of  small  cuts  in  outline  illustrating 
1,046  paintings  and  is  a  most  convenient  help 
to  their  identification.  Ernest  Leroux,  Paris, 
1905. 
Sturgis,  Russell.  The  Appreciation  of 
Pictures.  A  popular  handbook  for  students 
and  amateurs.  Baker  &  Taylor  Co.,  New 
York,  1905. 

Witt,  R.  C.  How  to  Look  at  Pictures. 
Geo.  Bell  &  Sons,  London,  1902. 

Caffin,  C.  H.  How  to  Study  Pictures. 
Century  Co.,  New  York,  1905. 

Herringham,  C.  J.,  editor.  The  Book  of  the 
Art  of  Cennino  Cennini.  A  contempor- 
ary treatise  on  quattrocento  painting.  George 
Allen,  London,  1899.     With  Bibliography. 

Brown,  G.  Baldwin.  The  Fine  Arts.  New 
York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1896. 

Van  Dyke,  J.  C.  Art  for  Art's  Sake.  Seven 
lectures  on  the  technical  beauties  of  painting. 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York,  1902. 


READING  LIST  147 

Abendschein,  A.     The  Secret  of  the  Old 
Masters.     Sidney  Appleton,  London,  1907. 

Subjects  illustrated  in  early  paintings. 

Jameson,  Mrs.  Anna.     Legends  of  the  Ma- 
donna. 
Sacred  and  Legendary  Art. 
Legends  of  the  Monastic  Orders. 

Edited  by  E.  M.  Hurl'.     Houghton,  Mifflin 
&  Co.,  Boston,  1901. 
Bell,   Nancy   R.    (Mrs.   A.   G.).     Saints   in 
Christian  Art. 

Three  volumes.     Geo.  Bell  &  Sons,  London, 
1904. 

Schools  of  Painting,  Italian. 
Jewett,  Louise  R.  History  of  Italian 
Painting.  Outlines  and  references.  South 
Hadley,  Mass.,  1908. 
Crowe,  J.  A.  and  Cavalcaselle,  C.  B.  His- 
tory of  Painting  in  Italy.  Old  Edition, 
three  volumes.  London,  1864.  New  Edi- 
tion, edited  by  Langton  Douglas.  London, 
1903.  New  Edition,  edited  by  Edward  Hut- 
ton,  London,  J.  M.  Dent  &  Co.  and  New 
York,  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.,  1908-1909. 

The  older  edition  of  this  important  work  is  out 
of  print  and  rare. 

Blashfield,  E.  H.  &  E.  W.,  editors.  Lives  of 
Seventy  Painters,  Sculptors,  and  Archi- 
tects, by  Giorgio  Vasari.  Four  Volumes. 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York,  1896. 
With  valuable  notes  and  Bibliography. 


148     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

Stillman,  W.  J.  Old  Italian  Masters,  en- 
graved by  Timothy  Cole,  with  notes  by  the 
engraver.  The  Century  Co.,  New  York, 
1892. 

Cartwright,  Julia  (Mrs.  Ady).  Painters  of 
Florence.  E.  P.  Dutton,  New  York,  1901. 
With  lists  of  "Chief  Works"  and  Bibli- 
ography.    Small  handbook. 

Muntz,  Eugene.  Histoire  de  l'Art  Pen- 
dant la  Renaissance.  Hachette  et  Cie., 
1 889-1 895.     Three  Volumes. 

1.  Italie,  les  Primitifs. 

2.  L'Age  d'Or. 

3.  La  Fin  de  la  Renaissance. 
Beautiful  and  costly  work  richly  illustrated. 

Symonds,  John  Addington.  Renaissance  in 
Italy.  The  Fine  Arts.  Henry  Holt,  New 
York,  1898. 

WOLFFLIN,  HEINRICH.  The  Art  OF  THE  ITAL- 
IAN Renaissance.  G.  P.  Putnam  &  Sons, 
New  York,  1903. 

Brinton,  Selwin.  Renaissance  in  Italian 
Art.  Three  Volumes.  Simpkin,  London, 
1898. 

Brown,  Alice  V.,  and  Wm.  Rankin.  Short 
History  of  Italian  Painting.  Dutton 
&  Co.,  1914. 

Conway,  Sir  W.  Martin.  Early  Tuscan 
Art.     Blackett  &  Hurst,  London,  1902. 

Stearns,  F.  P.  Midsummer  of  Italian  Art. 
New  Edition,  Badger,  Boston,  1914. 


READING  LIST  149 

Lafenestre,  Georges.  La  Peinture  Itali- 
enne  (Bibliotheque  de  l'Enseignement  des 
Beaux-Arts).     Paris. 

Criticism  of  Italian  Painting. 
Morelli,  Giovanni.     Italian  Painters:  I. 
Borghese    and     Doria     Pamphili    Galleries. 
Rome.     II.     Galleries  of  Munich  and  Dres- 
den.    Translated   by  Mrs.    L.   M.   Richter, 
Murray,  London,  1883. 

Berenson,  Bernhard.  Florentine  Paint- 
ers of  the  Renaissance.  Central  Italian 
Painters  of  the  Renaissance.  Venetian 
Painters  of  the  Renaissance.  With  lists 
of  painters  and  their  works  and  indexes  to 
places.  G.  P.  Putnam  &  Sons,  New  York, 
1903,  1904.     Three  volumes. 

By  the  same  author,  Study  and  Criticism  of 
Italian  Art.  First  and  Second  Series. 
Geo.  Bell  &  Sons,  1901,  1902.     Two  volumes. 

Among  the  modern  critics  of  Italian  painting 
Mr.  Berenson  holds  probably  the  first  place  and 
must  be  consulted  by  all  students  who  wish  to 
become  familiar  with  the  methods  of  modern 
criticism. 

Schools  of  Painting,  Flemish  and  Dutch. 
Van  Dyke,  J.  C.     Old  Dutch  and  Flemish 
Masters.   Engraved  by  Timothy  Cole.   The 
Century  Company,  New  York,  1895. 

Conway,  W.  Martin.  Early  Flemish  Ar- 
tists.    Seeley  &  Company,  London,  1887. 


ISO     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

Witt,  Mary  (Mrs.  R.  C.)  German  and 
Flemish  Masters  in  the  National  Gal- 
lery.    Geo.  Bell  &  Sons,  London,  1904. 

Fromentin,  Eugene.  Old  Masters  of  Bel- 
gium and  Holland.  Houghton,  Mifflin  & 
Company,  Boston,  1900.  Translated  from 
the  French  (Les  Maitres  d'Autrefois). 

Schools  of  Painting,  Spanish. 

Maxwell,  Sir  Wm.  Stirling.  Annals  of 
Artists  of  Spain.  Four  volumes.  John 
C.  Nimmo,  London,  1 891. 

Hartley,  C.  Gasquoine.  A  Record  of  Span- 
ish Painting.  Walter  Scott  Publishing  Com- 
pany, London,  1904. 

Monographs  on  Artists 

Giovanni  Bellini. 

Fry,  Roger  E.  Giovanni  Bellini.  Long- 
mans, Green  &  Co.,  New  York,  1891. 

Botticelli. 

Cartwright,  Julia  (Mrs.  Ady).  Life  and 
Art  of  Sandro  Botticelli.  With  Bibli- 
ography and  List  of  Works.  E.  P.  Dutton 
&  Co.,  New  York,  1904. 

Streeter,  A.  Botticelli.  Great  Masters 
Series.  Geo.  Bell  &  Sons,  London,  1903. 
With  Bibliography  and  Catalogue  of  Works. 

Horne,  Herbert  P.  Sandro  Botticelli.  George 
Bell  &  Sons,  London,  1908.  A  full  and  au- 
thoritative treatment. 


READING  LIST  151 


Carlo  Crivelli. 

Rushforth,  Gordon  McNeil.  Carlo  Cri- 
velli. Great  Masters  Series.  Geo.  Bell  & 
Sons,  London,  1900.  With  Bibliography 
and  Catalogue  of  Works. 

Giorgione. 

Cook,  Herbert.  Giorgione.  Great  Mas- 
ters Series.  Geo.  Bell  &  Sons,  1900.  With 
Bibliography  and  Catalogue  of  Works. 

Giotto. 

Perkins,  F.  Mason.  Giotto.  Great  Masters 
Series.  Geo.  Bell  &  Sons,  1902.  With  Bib- 
liography and  Catalogue  of  Works. 

Selincourt,  Basil  de.  Giotto.  Library  of 
Art.     Duckworth  &  Co.,  London,  1905. 

Benozzo  Gozzoli. 

Stokes,  Hugh.  Benozzo  Gozzoli.  Newnes 
Art  Library.  London.  With  List  of  Princi- 
pal Works. 

Fra  Filippo  Lippi. 

Strutt  E.  C.  Fra  Filippo  Lippi.  Geo.  Bell 
&  Sons,  London,  1901.  With  Bibliography 
and  Catalogue  of  Works. 

Supino,  I.  B.  Les  Deux  Lippi.  Alinari 
Freres,  Florence,  1904. 


152    MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

Andrea  Mantegna. 

Cruttwell,  Maud.     Andrea  Mantegna. 
Great  Masters   Series.     Geo.    Bell   &   Sons, 
London,  1901.     With  Bibliography  and  Cat- 
alogue of  Works. 

Kristeller,  Paul.  Andrea  Mantegna. 
English  edition  by  S.  Arthur  Strong.  With 
list  of  Works.  Longmans,  Green  &  Co., 
New  York,  1901. 

Thode,  H.  Mantegna.  Knackfuss  Kiinstler- 
Monographien,  Leipzig,  1897. 

Michelangelo. 

Gower,  Lord  Ronald.  Michael  Angelo 
Buonarroti.  Great  Masters  Series.  Geo. 
Bell  &  Sons,  1903.  With  Bibliography  and 
Catalogue  of  Works. 

Holyroyd,  Charles.  Michael  Angelo  Bu- 
onarroti. With  translations  from  his  Life 
by  his  scholar,  Condivi,  and  with  Three  Dia- 
logues from  the  Portuguese  by  Francisco 
d'Ollanda.     Scribner's,  New  York,  1903. 

Symonds,  John  Addington.  Life  of  Michel- 
angelo Buonarroti.  Two  volumes.  New 
York,  1899. 

Perugino. 

Williamson,  G.  C.  Perugino.  Great  Masters 
Series.  Geo.  Bell  &  Sons,  London,  1900. 
With  Bibliography  and  Catalogue  of  Works. 


READING  LIST  153 

Rembrandt. 

Michel,  Emile.  Rembrandt,  his  Life,  his 
Work,  his  Time,  from  the  French  by  Florence 
Simmonds.  Two  volumes.  William  Heine- 
mann,  London,  1895.  With  Bibliography 
and  Catalogue  of  Works. 

Bell,  Malcolm.  Rembrandt  van  Rijn. 
Great  Masters  Series.  Geo.  Bell  &  Sons, 
1901.  With  Bibliography  and  Catalogue 
of  Works. 

Menpes,  Mortimer.  Rembrandt.  Adam 
and  Charles  Black,  London,  1905.  With 
coloured  plates. 

Andrea  del  Sarto. 

Guiness,  H.  Andrea  del  Sarto.  Great 
Masters  Series.  Geo.  Bell  &  Sons,  1901. 
With  Bibliography  and  Catalogue  of  Works. 

LUCA  SlGNORELLI. 

Cruttwell,  Maud.  Luca  Signorelli.  Great 
Masters  Series.  Geo.  Bell  &  Sons,  1899. 
With  Bibliography  and  Catalogue  of  Works. 

Titian. 

Gronau,  Georg.  Titian.  A.  M.  Todd,  trans- 
lator. Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York, 
1904.  With  Bibliography  and  Catalogue  of 
Works. 

Lafenestre  Georges.  La  Vie  et  l'Oeuvre 
de  Titien.     Paris. 


154     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

Velasquez. 

Stevenson,    R.    A.    M.     Velasquez.     Great 

Masters   Series.     Geo.    Bell    &   Sons,    1899. 

With  a  Bibliography  and  Catalogue  of  Works. 
Hind,   C.   Lewis.      Days    with    Velasquez. 

Adam  and  Charles  Black,  1906.    With  some 

illustrations  in  colour. 
Klassiker    der    Kunst.      Deutsche    Verlags- 

Anstalt,  Stuttgart   u.    Berlin.     Monographs 

on  great  masters  illustrating  practically  the 

entire  work  of  the  artist. 


OUTLINE  FOR  CLUB  PAPER 

SlGNORELLI  AND   THE    UmBRO-TuSCAN    PAINTERS 

of  the  Quattrocento. 
I.     Examples  of  the  work  of  Signorelli. 
His  frescoes  at  Orvieto. 
Some  of  his  altarpieces. 
Characteristics  of  his  style:  composition, 
draughtsmanship,  colour,  types  of  beauty. 
II.     Comparison  of  Signorelli  with  Piero  della 

Francesca  and  with  Melozzo  da  Forli. 
III.  Illustrations  from  Signorelli:  A  fair-haired 
girl,  in  a  costume  copied  from  one  of  his 
pictures  (for  instance  from  the  figure  of 
the  Magdalen  in  the  panel,  Berlin  Gallery, 
once  the  wing  of  an  altarpiece;  see  Crutt- 
well's  "Signorelli,"  p.  60),  and  posed 
behind  a  picture  frame  in  a  series  of 
attitudes  studied  from  the  fair  girls  and 
angels  in  the  artist's  pictures.  The 
figures  chosen  might  be,  for  instance,  the 
Magdalen  mentioned,  the  Magdalen 
again  from  some  of  the  representations  of 
the  Crucifixion,  one  or  two  of  the  Ma- 
donnas, the  golden-haired  angel  in  the 
Cortona  Pieta,  and  one  or  two  of  the 
angels  with  instruments  of  music.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  show  more  than  the  half- 
length  figure,  but  the  lighting  and  the 
I5S 


i56    MASTERPIECES   OF   PAINTING 

colour  scheme  should  be  reproduced  as 
truly  as  possible.  A  model  of  a  different 
type  with  ample  curls  might  also  be  posed 
to  illustrate  the  foreshortening  and  pose 
of  some  of  Melozzo's  angels.  If  gauze 
be  stretched  across  the  frame  something 
of  the  dimness  and  tone  of  old  pictures 
may  be  obtained.  The  chief  interest  and 
value  of  this  experiment  is,  however,  to 
fix  the  attention  upon  characteristic 
poses. 
Good  photographs  of  the  works  of  these  artists 
are  desirable. 


PRONOUNCING  LIST 

Note:  The  following  marks  have  been  used  to 
indicate  the  vowel  sounds:  a=a  in  far,  a  =a  in 
fame,  e  =e  in  met,  e  =e  in  be,  1  =i  in  it,  i  =  i  in  bite, 
6  =  o  in  or,  6  =  o  in  so.  In  Italian  words  each 
lett  r  of  a  double  consonant  is  sounded. 


Angelico  (an-je'liko) 

Arezzo  (aret'zo) 

Assisi  (as-se'ze) 

Bartolommeo  (bar-tolom-ma'6) 

Benedicite  (benedeseta) 

Benozzo  (be-not'zo) 

Botticelli  (bot-te-cheTle) 

Brancacci  (brankat'che) 

Caravaggio  (karavad'jo) 

Cennino  Cennini  (chen-ne'no-chen-ne'ne) 

Chiaroscuro  (ke-ar-os-koo'ro) 

Cinquecento  (chin-kwa-chen'to) 

Correggio  (kor-red'jo) 

Crivelli  (kre-vel'le) 

Domenichino  (do-me-ne-ke'no) 

Duccio  (doot'cho) 

157 


158     MASTERPIECES  OF   PAINTING 

Eyck  (Ik) 

Fabriano  (fab-re-a'no) 
Filippino  (filip-pe'no) 
Filippo  (filip'-po) 
Forli  (for-le') 
Francesca  (fran-ches'ka) 
Gentile  (jen-te'la) 
Gesso  (jes's°) 
Gherardo  (gher-ar'do) 
Giotto  (jot'to) 
Giovanni  (jo-van'ne) 
Goes  (goose) 
Gonzalo  (gon-tha'lo) 
Gozzoli  (got'zo-le) 
Grazie  (grat'ze-a) 
Guercino  (gwer-che'no) 
Guido  (gwe'do) 
Intonaco  (in-ton'ako) 
Jacopo  (ya'kopo) 
Lorenzetti  (lorend-zet'te) 
Lippi  (lip'pe) 
Maes  (mas) 

Mantegna  (man-tan'ya) 
Martini  (mar-te'ne) 
Masaccio  (ma-sat'cho) 
Masolino  (ma-zo-le'no) 
Melozzo  (melot'zo) 
Michelangelo  (me-kal-an'jelo) 


PRONOUNCING  LIST  159 

Michelozzo  Michelozzi  (me-ka-lot/zo  me'kalot'-ze) 

Notte  (not'ta) 

Orvieto  (6r-ve-a'to) 

Palazzo  (palat'zo) 

Paolo  (pa'olo) 

Perez  (pa'rath) 

Pergola  (per'gola) 

Perugia  (pa-roo'ja) 

Perugino  (pa-roo-je'no) 

Piero  (pe-er'o) 

Pieta  (pe-a-ta') 

Pinturicchio  (pm-too-rik'keo) 

Polyptych  (pol'ip-tik) 

Pompeii  (pom-pa'ye) 

Predella  (predel'la) 

Quattrocento  (kwat-tro-chen'to) 

Raphael  (ra'fa-el) 

Rembrandt  (rem'brant) 

Reni  (ra'ne) 

Ribera  (re-ber'a) 

Siena  (se-a'na) 

Signorelli  (sen-yor-el'le) 

Stanze  (stan'tza) 

Taddeo  (tad-da'o) 

Tenebrosi  (ta-na-bro'ze) 

Trecento  (tra-chen'to) 

Triptych  (trip'tik) 

Uccello  (oochel'lo) 


160     MASTERPIECES  OF  PAINTING 

Uffizi  (oof-fet'ze) 
Vecchio  (vek'keo) 
Velasquez  (va-las'keth) 
Vinci  (vin'che) 
Zuccone  (tzook-ko'na) 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


240ct'b7Li> 


REC'D  LD 


UCI  111957. 


12May'59GM 


$& 


*£C 


o  uo 


tW^m 


^ 


i — 


.^'■t.D 


HAY  IS '64  -2 PM 


flN  STACK 


APR  %  1 1971 1  1 


3 APR  1  V71 


DtD  APR  2771  -3PM  0* 


LD  21-100m-6,'56. 
(B9311sl0)476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


t  L. 


/ 


339490 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


